Inconsistencies between state and federal laws allowed Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui to purchase guns legally despite his record of exhibiting signs of a dangerous mental illness. But even if it had been illegal for Cho to buy the handguns, Virginia law would have been powerless to prosecute the dealer who sold them--both issues of the state law that at least one leader in the state legislature says will be "of significant debate" in the next legislative session.
At issue in Cho's case is the difference between being deemed by a judge as a "danger to himself or to others"--the standard for prohibition according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives--and actually being committed against one's will to a mental health facility, the threshold for prohibition in Virginia. (See the federal and state statutes).
Furthermore, the Virginia Code only outlines punishments for the illegal sale of firearms to convicted felons or those acquitted of a crime for reasons of insanity, neither of which applied to Cho. (See statute.)
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Building 44 of the Johnson Space Center was evacuated this afternoon after reports of a gunman inside, Houston police said. The building houses communications and tracking development laboratory, the AP reports.
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There's another reason--discussed privately but rarely cited in public--that so many Republican senators are upset with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, reports Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh.
More and more lawmakers are concluding that he has become such a weak advocate for conservative policies that he won't be an effective defender of those policies in the 2008 campaign, when the GOP will need all the help it can get to defend seats and try to recapture control of Congress.
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Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh reports:
Democratic congressional leaders remain confident that, over the long term, they will send President Bush a vetoproof measure establishing benchmarks for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. But that bill won't happen for months.
With Wednesday's White House meeting between Bush and the Democrats failing to break the current stalemate, it seems clear that the House and Senate will send the president combined legislation to fund the Iraq war that contains a timetable for withdrawal. He promises to veto it.
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After we reported Tuesday morning on a Virginia Tech student, Regina Rohde, and her fiance who were present at both the Columbine High School shootings and the massacre at Virginia Tech on Monday, the two met with Chhayal Parikh, a video producer for USNews.com to discuss their unique perspective on the tragedy. Here's a video report on their story. In Blacksburg, Columbine Grads Relive Tragedy | |
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This morning's top stories:
- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales endured stinging questions and remarks from senators of both parties during his testimony on Capitol Hill yesterday, and now several Republican senators are joining with Democrats in calling for him to resign.
- Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has called for an official day of mourning today for the victims of Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech.
- An ad hoc group convened by the World Bank will evaluate the fate of President Paul Wolfowitz, the AP reports.
- Scientists have discovered and recorded extremely low-frequency sounds produced by the sun's atmosphere beyond the threshold of human hearing.
- Since humans and apes diverged about 6 million years ago, our chimpanzee cousins have evolved more than we have, according to new studies of both chimp and human DNA.
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