In a state next door to ours, a member of congress was shot in the head during a rally on Saturday. In the shooting, six people died including the chief federal judge for Arizona and 9-year-old girl. Fourteen more were wounded.

Like Venice’s own representative, Jane Harman, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) is a moderate Democrat. What kind of anger would drive somebody to try to assassinate her?

According to the police, the suspect, Jared L. Loughner, 22, tried to join the Army, but failed a drug test. He enrolled at Pima Community College, but got kicked out for unruly behavior. The FBI said it found signed handwritten documents in his parents’ safe with the words “I planned ahead,” “My assassination” and “Giffords.”

Police say he bought a 9-mm Glock handgun on Nov. 30. These aren’t the six shooters made famous in nearby Tombstone, Arizona. The semiautomatic Glock 17 can handle magazines of 17, 19, and even 33 rounds.

It’s easy to dismiss the shooter as a wacko and say we simply need to keep guns out of the hands of crazy people. Maybe Loughner would have found an outlet for his rage somewhere else, but the political problem goes deeper.

Not long ago I made the mistake of talking politics with a talk show host I’d worked with before. I knew he was a conservative, and I tried to find middle ground on the national issue that he had brought up. When it became obvious that I didn’t agree with him, his eyes shot flames as he told me that it was “time for people to get out their torches and pitchforks.”

Gifford, like Harman and 217 other representatives , voted for the healthcare bill, a system similar to what Governor Mitt Romney (a Republican) implemented in Massachusetts.  Gifford’s office was vandalized after her vote.

Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik was right when he blamed the shooting on what divides us these days: “the vitriolic rhetoric.” He went on to say that it inflames unbalanced people.

During the 2010 congressional campaign, former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used her political capital to post a map on Facebook with spots where she was targeting Democrats for defeat. The graphic on the page appeared as crosshairs as seen through a gun sight.  It’s not a big leap for an off-kilter mind to take that metaphor literally. Giffords was among those on Palin’s map. Harman was not. (Palin took down the graphic Sunday.)

Giffords is a big backer of gun rights. Her libertarian streak puts her in favor of letting bikers ride helmet-free again, the way she prefers. Giffords’ district has a hundred mile border with Mexico. She backed putting national guard troops on the border, but she wanted national comprehensive immigration reform rather than a state-by-state attempt.

We’re at serious danger of losing the center in this country, people who can reach across the political aisle and get things done. It’s time to return civility to public life. As one of my friends, Venice resident and 1992 presidential candidate Dean Adams Curtis, constantly reminds me, “We vote in this country so we don’t shoot at each other.”

We run the risk of shooting more when we talk past each other. We have to turn down the intensity a notch, use words to persuade and cajole, but not rile up and arm.

It’s still very much touch and go for the Giffords. The bullet went straight through her brain. To relieve swelliing, doctors had to remove half her skull.  She is in critical condition, in a medically induced coma.

The thirteen others are fighting to recover as well.

President Obama called on Americans to observe a moment of silence at 11 a.m. Monday in honor of the wounded and dead.  We all should take that breather to reflect and pray if you're so inclined. It can't hurt.