Online photo
22026
WHCA SHOOTER
To be clear it is not “a right” to attempt to assassinate political figures.
Last night at the Washington Hilton hotel in D.C. a single shooter shot a secret service agent and attempted to storm the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner where one prominent attendee was President Donald J. Trump and many of his administration officials, various journalists and assorted guests. The shooter was identified as Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, CA who traveled by train from California via Chicago to Washington and checked in to the Hilton the day before the WHCD event with the intent to shoot a Trump administration official. There were an estimated 2,000 persons in attendance in the ballroom at the time of the attack.
There is much discussion on the manner in which the Secret Service and partner law enforcement agencies failed to prevent this incident from happening inside the hotel. How did a man armed with a shotgun, a handgun and several knives manage to shoot an agent and sprint through the security station as he headed toward the crowded ballroom? Although several shot were fired by law enforcement, the attacker was not hit, but wrestled to the ground, apprehended and then handcuffed.
There are obvious the questions were, was security successful, since the shooter failed to gain entrance to the ballroom, or a failure for not stopping the shooters intrusion past the security station? Are there training issues or new techniques needed to prevent repeat attacks? Is it even possible to adequately secure a prominent public hotel with multiple access points and other events happening simultaneously?
This makes what amounts to a third assassination attempt on the life of President Trump (that we know of) and there is no indication that this would be the last attempt.
There is a strong argument for the Grand Ballroom being built at the White House where multiple security features are being adopted during the planning and construction phase that could very well prevent such an attack. But will it be enough?
It is time for all the rhetoric promoting political violence to stop. Politicians, news media talking heads and public officials must abandon this harmful rhetoric that has already caused injury and death to citizens and visitors alike, plus the destruction of private, public and government facilities.
It is time for elected officials to take a stand for American values. – RTM
The Real Truckmaster 