Entries for April 19, 2007

Democrats are expecting gun control to be a major campaign issue in the upcoming elections but aren't expected to press hard for tougher controls in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, reports Whispers Editor Paul Bedard.

A key Democratic strategist today said that while House and Senate leaders are keen on the issue, voters and moderate members, or so-called blue dogs, aren't, and new gun control laws could end the party's grip on Congress.

"There really won't be much action on this on the national level," said a House strategist.

"Individual members might make it an issue back home, but the truth is that gun control and abortion are two issues that could hurt re-elections," added the strategist. Another official noted that building pressure for greater gun control is limited also because the new Democratic senator from Virginia, Jim Webb, is a gun owner who shoots at the National Rifle Association range in Northern Virginia.

Instead, some lawmakers and administration advisers are exploring another way to address the Virginia Tech issue, possibly by focusing instead on school safety and spending on programs to protect students. But so far, there are no congressional or White House proposals drafted on those topics.

The mother of a Virginia Tech freshman who lost two high school friends in Monday's masssacre wrote down her thoughts in the initial days following the shootings. Shari Sachs is the mother of Nicole Bonfiglio, who graduated last year from Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va., with her friends, Reema Samaha and Erin Peterson. The killer, Cho Seung- Hui, also graduated from Westfield, in 2003. Sachs went to Blacksburg to pick up her daughter on Tuesday, April 17. The two returned to their Northern Virginia home the same day. The diary excerpts are transcribed as written.

The excerpts are available here.

U.S. News's Online News Editor Jay Keller compiled the most recent news on Monday's horrific shooting at Virginia Tech.

NBC News's decision to air some of the video and pictures sent by Cho Seung-Hui to NBC has had immediate repercussions today, with family members of victims canceling plans to appear on camera. On NBC's "Today" show, host Meredith Vieira said the decision to air the information "was not taken lightly." Some victims' relatives canceled their plans to speak with NBC because they were upset over the airing of the images, she said.

The chilling images of the gunman aired on Wednesday night further silenced Blacksburg.

"It's just as he planned," Heather Brennan, a master's student who watched the report in the campus student center, tells the Associated Press. "He knew exactly what he wanted to do and he did it."

Aside from the killer's attempt to reach out from the grave, new developments on his family background begin to emerge. As a boy, Cho troubled his parents because of speech difficulties, a newspaper in South Korea reported on Thursday.

The Associated Press has also learned that Sun-Kyung Cho, the gunman's sister, is employed by the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office.

Note: This article was originally reported Wednesday evening. It has been updated this morning with new information from the FBI.

Despite being temporarily detained at a mental health facility in 2005, Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui's name was not added to the federal database meant to prevent the mentally ill from obtaining handguns because he was never formally committed to the facility, U.S. News's Will Sullivan has learned.

Following accusations of stalking by two female students against Cho and concerns he might be suicidal, campus officials obtained a "temporary detention order" for him on Dec. 13, 2005, from a Virginia magistrate, citing concerns that he "presents an imminent threat to [him]self or others." Cho was sent to Carilion St. Albans Behavioral Health Center in Radford, Va., for examination.

But the next day, a physician concluded that, while mentally ill, Cho did not present an imminent danger to others or require involuntary hospitalization. Paul M. Barnett, a special justice with the Virginia District Court in Christiansburg released him. (Page 5 of the document).

U.S. News chief legal correspondent Chitra Ragavan sends us this update from the Senate hearing room where Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is testifying on his role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

"It's a jampacked hearing," Ragavan says. "Senators kept their own opening comments brief, a reflection of how seriously they view this hearing."

Both Democratic and Republican senators on the committee were hitting Gonzales with tough questions, Ragavan says, keeping political rhetoric to a minimum and sticking to facts.

"Some of the toughest questioning is coming from Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican who so far has resisted calling for the attorney general's ouster."

Emphasis has focused on former New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, Ragavan adds.

Today's top stories:

• In the worst day of violence since the troop increase began in Iraq two months ago, at least 183 people died in four separate attacks on Wednesday.
  Update: The AP now reports that the death toll has risen to 230. Meanwhile, another suicide bomber has killed at least 12 in Baghdad.
• Videos that Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui mailed to NBC News before the second deadly shooting paint a picture of a deeply disturbed individual.
• Meanwhile, it appears that, because he was briefly taken to a mental health facility, he almost ended up on a list of individuals banned from purchasing guns in Virginia, News Desk has learned.
• Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee today on his role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
• Democratic presidential candidates are lining up to court the Rev. Al Sharpton, once a candidate himself, for his endorsement in the primary.
• A top aide to embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has urged him to step down, Reuters reports.