not get done, of course. But compared to Friday, when the passions of the election were still riding high and the two parties were gearing up for the epic and angry clash they'd promised voters, it's going to be a very different mood when the lawmakers reconvene.

One thing you will see are a series of bills meant to address various parts of the tragedy in Arizona. Already, there's talk of gun-control laws, of legislation regulating the threats you can make against a member of Congress, of security details for legislators. I haven't seen any of these bills, and so I'm not passing judgment on them. But we should be vigilant that the desire to do something in response to the shooting does not lead us to do the wrong thing by mistake.

Attacks on members of Congress remain very rare in this country. The last congressman killed while in office was Rep. Leo Ryan, who was murdered in the events directly preceding the Jonestown Massacre. That was in 1978. What we think we know about the events in Arizona suggest it was even more senseless, and thus even less likely to be part of an organized or even disorganized spree that we need to radically overhaul policy in order to defend against. Above all, nothing we do should make it more difficult for citizens and legislators do follow the example of Rep. Giffords and her constituents and meet for an hour on the street corner to participate in the basic give-and-take of representative democracy. It is, if anything, a moment to double down on the democratic traditions that Giffords and her voters inadvertently took such risks to participate in. Anything that would even indirectly limit such easy contact between legislators and constituents should be viewed very skeptically.

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The House has cleared its legislative agenda this week, reports Jennifer Haberkorn: "Lawmakers on Sunday said they still expect to have a spirited but delayed and toned-down debate to repeal the health care reform law after Saturday’s shooting in Arizona. Within hours of the massacre, Majority Leader Eric Cantor postponed the House’s entire legislative agenda for the week, including the vote on repealing the law, which was planned for Wednesday. His office said he’ll make further announcements on the schedule today. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Republican conference chairman, said on CNN’s 'State of the Union' that the rhetoric needs to be turned down."

Lawmakers are preparing bills in response to Saturday's shooting in Tucson, reports Shira Toeplitz: "One of the fiercest gun-control advocates in Congress, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), pounced on the shooting massacre in Tucson Sunday, promising to introduce legislation as soon as Monday...Pennsylvania Rep. Robert Brady, a Democrat from Philadelphia, told CNN that he also plans to take legislative action. He will introduce a bill that would make it a crime for anyone to use language or symbols that could be seen as threatening or violent against a federal official, including a member of Congress."

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Jan. 10, 2011