Employ the lessons we learned from Giffords shooting.

We’ve been through this before. We’ve been through it too many times, most often with people who are not involved in politics. But that has happened, too.

We should take a moment to put into practice the lessons we learned — or should have learned — after the shooting of then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in 2011. First, we should all take a breath. We should tend to the injured and traumatized at the shooting in Alexandria, Virginia, in which Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana and others were wounded. We should comfort their families. If praying is something you do, this would be a good time.

We should make sure the scene is secure and all of the rest of our elected officials are safe, as well as the public in that area.

We should let law enforcement do its work. There are a lot of questions they will need to answer. What is the shooter’s story? What led him to this insane act? Was he acting alone?

We should praise and thank the first responders on the scene, the Capitol Police, who risked their lives to save others.

We want all of our questions answered now because we have the technology to transmit those answers immediately and we get frustrated because the cable news networks and news websites will be covering this incident non-stop.

But we have to let authorities do their work. The answers will come.

Most of all, we should not politicize this. Not now. Not yet.

We know that this incident will be politicized later, because we politicize everything. But not now.

This is not a time for trying to score points on either side of our never-ending argument about gun rights.

It is not a time for politicians or political activists on either side of the spectrum to try to score points against the opposition.

Giffords knows this. She issued a statement that reads in part:

“It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican, nor if you're a senator or a representative, nor a staffer or a sworn officer. If you serve the institution of Congress, you're connected to your colleagues, current and former, by a shared sense of service to ideals far greater than yourself. This shooting is an attack on all who serve and on all who participate in our democracy.”

A terrible thing happened. The perpetrator was killed.

There are questions to be answered. There will be arguments. There will — no doubt — be finger-pointing.

Heck, there already is. It seems to have begun before the first ambulance reached the hospital.

But there’s also an opportunity to come together, if only for a little while, as we did after the Giffords shooting.

Remember that? We did. We came together. The first step in doing so is easy. All we need to do is … take a breath.