After the shooting: security for Capitol Hill

After the shooting: security for Capitol Hill

After the shooting: security for Capitol Hill

Yesterday, a jerk with a bad attitude and a rifle went on to a baseball field, asked people who were walking on the field what party they were with and shot the republicans. A baseball field where kids play. The only person on the field other than the shooter with a weapon were two Capitol Police officers carrying pistols. Special Agents Bailey and Griner were heroes and their story was told by Victory Girl Jodi here. These heroes kept this shooting from becoming a massacre. What is of interest is this: The only reason Agents Bailey and Griner were there was because they were the security detail for Steve Scalise. The rest of the congressmen playing had no security detail. Nor does their staff. Or their families. And that is an issue that needs to be looked at: what is reasonable security for Congress? And do they need more arms and armor?

Why one might ask do public servants need a full security detail? Well there is a lot of dumb stuff said by both sides which Nina addressed nicely here and here. Even though this may be a lone wolf, how about we all stop and tone the rhetoric and invective way way down.  All of us.  What makes this worse is that the shooter chose his targets as the AP reports here

The shooting occurred at a popular park and baseball complex in Alexandria, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, where Republican lawmakers and others were gathered for a morning practice about 7 a.m. They were in good spirits despite the heat and humidity as they prepared for the congressional baseball match that pits Republicans against Democrats. The popular annual face-off, which raises money for charity, is scheduled to go forward as planned Thursday evening at Nationals Park in Washington.

A park and baseball complex.  This is a place families and kids are at all summer at all hours.  It is disturbing how much this creep planned his act of terror.

Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina said he had just left the practice and encountered the apparent gunman in the parking lot before the shooting. The man calmly asked which party’s lawmakers were practicing and Duncan told him they were the Republicans. The man thanked him.

Not just lawmakers or this would have been a horrible massacre: there thankfully were two hero cops.

Lawmakers noted their good fortune in having armed protectors on hand – “Thank God,” they exclaimed over and over – and said otherwise the shooter would have been able to take a huge deadly toll.

In this case, two police officers were the difference between life and death. Because nobody brings a rifle or their collection of guns to baseball practice, right? Nor do they have said weapons accessible in the outfield or on the pitcher’s mound.

Security concerns

USA Today discussed congressional concerns here:

Tensions about inadequate security for members of Congress flared during an all-member security briefing for lawmakers on Capitol Hill hours after Rep. Steve Scalise was shot during a baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia.

For good reason. The shooter caught these men at an unguarded moment in what appeared to be a normal day. He did stop people and ask what their party affiliation was like any good Daeshbag or terrorist would do. That is not acceptable. Ever.

According to one lawmaker who attended, members of both parties were united in airing their concerns, with representatives including Ann Wagner, R-Missouri, and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., among those speaking out. There was frustration, said the lawmaker who was not authorized to speak on the record about the private meeting, because some lawmakers including Cedric Richmond, D-La., had expressed fears last week about member safety. Richmond, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, raised his concerns directly to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. He is also a close friend of Scalise.

Hoping that there can be a way to keep these men and women safe and do it without losing reasonable accessibility to our local congressman or woman. And dial down the rhetoric everyone. Please.

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15 Comments
  • parker says:

    Let those in DC who consistently call for disarming me, and demonize me as a “bitter clinger” pay out their own pockets for their own security.

    My give a damn is busted.

  • Scott says:

    I just heard something yesterday on the news. don’t recall if it was Fox, or local, but they said that the security detail for Rep Scalise (may he recover quickly) cost something on the order of 1 million a month. They they ran out the numbers, and came up with a yearly cost to provide the same to all members of congress with the same security, and came up with a number of 6 Billion/yr… Not sure if that’s right, since i didn’t run the numbers, but I don’t think it’d be sustainable.. How about we provide firearms training (probably not needed for Rep Zink, and some others) for any members that desire it, and give them (along with all law abiding citizens) the right to constitutional carry in all 50 states… No, they wouldn’t have been armed while running the bases, but seeing as a number of them took cover in a dugout, a few weapons in gear bags could have made a big difference..

  • GWB says:

    Why one might ask do public servants need a full security detail?

    Exactly the question. *I* don’t get a security detail every day.
    If they want full time security, they can do what a regular citizen does and arm themselves.

    One of the jokes about “why do you carry a firearm?” is “Because a cop is too heavy/doesn’t fit in my purse/wallet.” Unless, of course, you are a congresscritter.

  • Brian Brandt says:

    If Democrats would just stop shooting people the crime rate would go down 80%.

    • Gail Boer says:

      Perhaps using a better term than the resistance might help? Well at least the SPLC is seeing the far left as it truly is.

      • GWB says:

        A good chunk of those “Democrat voters” Brian mentions aren’t into political violence at all. They just happen to be the chosen Democrat demographic – in places like Chicago and Detroit.

  • GWB says:

    Someone is introducing a national reciprocity law for elected officials. That way DC has to honor their CCPs from their home district/state, and any state they’re visiting on official business has to do the same.

    I say kudos to this.

  • Scott says:

    I agree GWB, with the exception that congress critters are not our betters, and as such, any rights given to them should be given to us peons as well, otherwise it’s just a perpetuation of the “elite”

  • Son of Rusty Shackleford says:

    “A jerk with a bad attitude”????
    Is that how’d you describe Lee Harvey Oswald or any other psychopathic assassin in history? Methinks you were letting this guy off way too easily!

    • Gail Boer says:

      Now that there is additional information the term cowardly psychopathic would be assassin (defeated by two cops with guns) is more appropriate.

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