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Fenty’s own words: D.C. shooting ‘extremely isolated incident’
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Violence happens in an instant, and Wednesday’s shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. demonstrates not only the futility of gun control laws, but that when such incidents occur, even anti-gun politicians can be candid…with an agenda.
That candor can sometimes make someone look rather foolish.
District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty, who pushed the Heller case through the Supreme Court only to wind up as the guy ultimately responsible for the high court’s landmark Second Amendment ruling, told reporters at a press conference that the museum shooting was “an extremely isolated incident.”
He also had this to say: “In these days and times you never know when anyone is going to grab a gun and use it in an inappropriate way.”
No kidding. This is all the more reason why law-abiding American citizens should be allowed to exercise their right to keep and bear arms virtually anywhere. Placing restrictions on legal concealed or open carry has been proven time and again to provide a risk-free working environment for lunatics bent on harming a lot of innocent people. Gun-free zones are killing fields for madmen.
Of course, the museum is not exactly a gun-free zone. Security officers, including Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, who was fatally wounded, are armed. This incident happened very fast, Metro Police Chief Kathy Lanier said the suspect opened fire immediately when he entered the doorway of the museum. It is not clear whether Johns was able to engage and exchange shots or whether one of the other guards shot the suspect.
The attack was the third in a recent wave of unsettling shootings that appeared to have political underpinnings.
When is the last time anyone heard of a mass shooting at a gun range, gun show or an NRA convention? Never? Well, DUH! There’s a reason for that. As exemplified by last month’s NRA gathering in Phoenix, AZ, there was a definite armed presence; a gunman would have been met with a fusillade.
There is legitimate concern that this shooting, and a couple of other recent events, will be politicized and expoited to push for new gun control measures.
Violence does not happen on a pre-arranged schedule, and criminals do not make appointments.
A suspect is in custody, identified by various news agencies as James W. von Brunn, described as an “88-year-old white supremacist” who spent six years in a federal prison for a 1981 incident at the Federal Reserve involving a sawed-off shotgun and fake bomb. His website is the stuff of pure hatred.
In 1983, he was convicted of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board. He was arrested two years earlier outside the room where the board was meeting, carrying a revolver, knife and sawed-off shotgun. At the time, police said Von Brunn wanted to take the members hostage because of high interest rates and the nation's economic difficulties.
Item #1: As a convicted felon, von Brunn could not legally own a firearm, so when he carried what has been described as a “long rifle” or a “long gun”, he was already in violation of that particular statute.
Item #2: It is illegal in Washington, D.C. to trot around with a gun, and illegal everywhere to enter a federal building with a firearm.
Item #3: It is illegal to criminally assault someone with a firearm, yet that is exactly what the suspect did Wednesday.
More will come out about this. My able colleague David Codrea, the National Gun Rights Examiner, is on top of this story. Expect to hear plenty about this in the days ahead.
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Holocaust Museum Shooting
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