Death Penalty for Attempted Assassin Jared Loughner

This has to be by far the most disturbing image of an attempted assassin I have ever seen! The photo depicts Jared Loughner, the wannabe assassin who attempted to assassinate Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords outside a grocery store on Saturday. Loughner critically wounded the congresswoman and killed six other people including Federal Judge John Roll. Today 22- year old Jared Loughner, often described as a loner, appeared in court after being brought up on murder charges. Loughner is facing the death penalty if convicted.

For some reason, I still have not formed an opinion about Jared Loughner. I guess this is understandable when any act of violence leaves more questions than answers. The main question that comes to mind in a situation like this is WHY? Why did innocent lives have to be taken? Why did Loughner decide to punish so many families by killing their loved ones? Most importantly, WHY would he even think about committing such a crime? These are questions that the public may never know, or will never have the capacity to ever know. As an attempt to shed light on such a dark situation, Giffords' brother-in-law issued this statement:

"These days, we are constantly reminded of the unspeakable acts of violence and damage we can inflict upon one another, not just with our actions, but also with our irresponsible words,"

I agree that actions and words can both inflict violence and bring harm to others. However, actions seem to cause more pain than words so to speak. As the saying goes, "actions speak louder than words." By actions alone, Loughner showed not only Arizona, but the world, how strong his feelings are towards the government. While I stand by my idea that the government is not expedient in its efforts to enhance the economy, environment, or well-being of citizens, there is never an excuse to murder. While those of you who read my last blog entry concerning the actions of Robert Butler Jr., may find this statement to be contradictory, I did not condone his shooting of his principal and assistant principal. Instead, I defended the fact that he at least took responsibility for his actions with an apology. This is something that Loughner has yet to do(it is unlikely that he will). Loughner has not spoken a word since the shooting.

What do we know about Jared Loughner? Nothing except that he lacks the capacity for emotion or remorse. He killed six additional people and injured 14 while targeting Giffords. However, from a philosophical point of view, can we label Loughner as someone who is ALL BAD? Is there any good left in a man who cold bloodily murdered six people? While we may all have our opinions on the matter, this is frankly something that we are in no position to say.