Going to hell in the proverbial hand basket

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

So, I've been watching the story develop today about the nut job that decided to take his rifle and start shooting at the Holocaust Memorial.  In his 80s, one James Wenneker von Brunn shot a security guard before being shot by another.  Officer Stephen Johns died this afternoon.

Who was the madman?  According to some, a white supremacist who thought the Jews were out to rule the world.  The fact that the guard he shot was an African-American may be coincidence or may not.

But what is clear is that there are people in this country who are terrorists.  They look like me and you.  Apparently, they even look like your grandfather.  The right wing cries about how Obama has made us less safe and some are already counting this as the second terrorist attack on our soil since Obama's inauguration.  (The first being the shooting at the Army recruiting station last week.) What they have in common, besides the obvious, is that they were both perpetrated by lone gunmen.  Nothing organized. Nothing on a massive scale like 9/11.  Just one man with a gun.  Probably the hardest thing to protect against.

Adding the killing of Dr George Tiller, we've now had three shootings in 10 days. One Christianist, one  Muslim and one Anti-Semitic.  Three men so angry at the world they felt the need to kill.

But we don't need gun control.  Oh no. Though in all fairness, these three no doubt managed to purchase their weapons of choice legally. What we do need to be aware of is the prescient nature of the DHS report on domestic terrorism.  It exists and poses a grave threat, not just to our political leaders but to everyday Americans.

Americans like Officer Stephen Johns, Pvt. William Long and Dr. George Tiller.

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• Sources: Shooter is white supremacist (cnn.com)
• Guard killed at U.S. Holocaust museum; shooter has white supremacy ties: reports (network.nationalpost.com)