The little girl stood at the edge of the light cast by television cameras, pushed through the crowd by her father. She wore a rainbow-colored stocking cap and Minnesota Vikings Jersey and, like Christina Taylor Green, she was 9 years old.

Green, killed in the shooting spree that wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was born on 9/11. The girl at the Global Market, Stacia Schirber, was born three months later. Like Green, Schirber was there to claim witness to the bright, shining mess that is our political system.

The least-worst system in the world.

A few feet away, Rep. Keith Ellison was telling a crowd of local and national media that he was not afraid: "We cannot withdraw from the public square, folks. I don't have any fears tonight about my safety."

Besides, he said, I own a shotgun.

Because he is black, because he was the first Muslim elected to Congress, because he speaks his mind and says a lot of things some people don't want to hear, Ellison might be the most harassed member of that body. Asked how often he gets hate mail or calls, he didn't hesitate.

"Daily," he said.

Micah Clemens, a spokesman for Ellison, said actual threats are not common, but "it's not so rare that we are shocked. We get a lot of really hateful messages. They are usually either incredibly racist and use the N word, or they are inflammatory statements about Islam or the prophet Mohammed."

Judging by the postmarks of the mail, "they are not from constituents," he said. There is a "lot of foul language, and sometimes they put asterisks next to the word as if to lessen the impact or something. But even if the letters are hateful and vicious, you are kind of allowed to say that if you want. We don't forward those to authorities."

But if the letters suggest violence or have violent images, such as nooses or guns, they are given to police to determine whether there is a legitimate threat.

How many times have they turned over potentially threatening letters?

"I'd say dozens," Clemens said.

That's why the media was at Global Market on Friday night. Since the assassination attempt on Giffords, there has been a lot of discussion about whether volatile political rhetoric played a part. My guess is that the gunman was a lone deranged person without a formed political philosophy. Yes, he read Hitler and Marx, but he also liked "Gulliver's Travels."

Should we blame Jack Black?

The Secret Service conducted a project to discover why assassins kill. They studied 83 people who had made attempts since 1949 and interviewed some of them. They found that assassinations of political figures were almost never political. Assassins simply felt invisible, but sometimes attached themselves to a political movement to justify their act.

Ellison mentioned Friday that we might consider legislation to restrict large gun clips that allow excessive fire power. I disagree, because nothing stops them from just carrying more guns. I think the only legislation that can make a difference is one that makes it easier for the mentally ill to get care.

And while I don't think political rhetoric caused the killer to act, it's not a bad thing that we're having the discussion about it. Remember that in 2008, someone vandalized the homes of six members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, proving that cowards can be bipartisan knuckleheads.

Troy Young, communications director for Rep. John Kline, one of the victims of the vandalism, said the incident was an anomaly and that the congressman receives very little "hate speech" mail. The vast majority of the mail received by both Ellison and Kline is either positive or constructive criticism, something that's important to remember in these times.

But the Rev. Jerry McAfee, who introduced Ellison, also told a story about the dangers of "toxic tongue." He recalled how he was once mad at someone and muttered a careless line like, "I could kill that guy." He later realized someone might take it seriously.

"I've got to be careful as a leader of what I say," McAfee said.

Exactly. Not necessarily because of the man who tried to kill Giffords, but because of people like little Stacia Schirber, who waited patiently for an hour to meet her congressman.

As she waited, she sat at a table and wrote a get-well card to Giffords.

"To Gabrielle," she wrote. "Thinking of you."

jtevlin@startribune.com • 612-673-1702