Anti-semitic individual attacks Holocaust Museum, guard dies

Info about this attack by James W. von Brunn on Wednesday afternoon that left 39-year-old Stephen T. Johns, a special police officer, a six-year veteran of the museum, dead:

-- 88-year-old individual, well-known to monitors of hate groups as an avowed anti-Semite
-- felon, "sentenced in 1983 to more than four years in prison for attempted armed kidnapping and other charges in his Fed assault. He was released in 1989"
-- used .22 caliber rifle to commit the attack
-- attack occurred in a gun free zone.

The reaction from gun control groups?

The Brady Campaign

"Congress should think very hard about their responsibilities for public safety before weakening gun laws in our nation's capital, and should rethink their decision to allow more guns in our national public areas," said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

"It is dangerous to force more guns into places that American families expect to be gun-free and safe," he said.

Mr. Helmke, who issued the statement within hours of the shooting, said he extended sympathies to the victims and that the bloodshed "shows that having even more guns in more places is the wrong answer to America's gun violence problem."

Also

D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray said the shooting underscored the need for strict gun laws in the nation's capital.

"It's all the more reason why, though, District of Columbia gun legislation should be not used as a bargaining chip by those in Congress who would use our city for political gain while compromising safety, particularly when it involves our right to a vote," said Mr. Gray, at-large Democrat. . . .