Doctors said Sunday that U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-A.Z., is able to respond to simple commands, which comes as encouraging news after the congresswoman suffered a bullet to the head when a gunman opened fire at a “Congress on Your Corner” event outside a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz. Jared Loughner, 22, shot and killed six people, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge, and injured 14 others, including Giffords.

Information continued to pour out on Sunday regarding the shooting, but at press time there had been no word as to the motive behind it. But when citizens are openly encouraged to assassinate out-of-control politicians, what’d you expect?

During a radio interview in January of 2010, former Nevada GOP Senate nominee and Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle alluded to voters taking out her opponent, Harry Reid, using what she referred to as “Second Amendment Remedies.”

“I hope that’s not where we’re going,” she said. “But you know if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying, ‘My goodness what can we do to turn this country around?’ I’ll tell you – the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.”

Does anything else need to be said? Or do we all have the understanding that Angle told her supporters to assassinate Reid to solve the country’s problems?

Two months later, Sarah Palin revealed a controversial map that put crosshairs over target areas of the country to represent a list of Democratic representatives she wanted defeated in the mid-term elections in November.

Giffords was the fourth name on the list.

Though this does not make Palin nor Angle directly responsible for the shooting, bare in mind how influential and damaging language such as “Second Amendment Remedies” and imagery such as crosshairs over targeted politicians can be on a fragile mind. Authorities said Loughner has remained mum since the shooting, but a CNN report Sunday revealed that Loughner had several anti-government posts on both his YouTube and Facebook accounts.

“(Loughner) said, ‘I cannot trust the current government because of the ratifications. The government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar,’” said Nick Valencia, a CNN reporter. “He also went on to write about currency, saying he’s not willing to contribute to anything backed by gold and silver. He spoke a little bit also on his Facebook page about his adoration of ‘Mein Kampf’ and ‘The Communist Manifesto.’”

Because disturbed characters like Loughner exist, politicians and public figures need to be more cautious about the tactics they use in dealing with the public. Take an unsettled personality like Loughner’s, put him in the middle of a dwindling economy, throw in some suggestive language use and sprinkle on some disturbing imagery, and the result, unfortunately, is more “unspeakable tragedies” like Saturday’s.