Tragedy at the Holocaust Museum

Barely two months after Richard Pawlawski allegedly shot and killed three police officers here in Pittsburgh, it appears that another white supremacist has struck again.

The Associated Press has just released a story about a man who entered the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC and opened fire into the crowd. Because this just occurred a few hours ago, details are still incomplete. But the AP did report that an individual described as an "elderly gentleman" opened fire into the crowded museum, which receives 1.7 million visitors every year. The assailant, using what was described as a rifle, exchanged gunfire with a museum security guard, and both are in critical condition.

The alleged shooter is James W. von Brunn, 89. Von Brunn was arrested and served more than six years in a federal prison for trying to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board. When arrested in 1981, he was found with a knife, gun, and a sawed-off shotgun.

Von Brunn has a web site associated with him that highlights (lowlights?) his book "Kill the Best Gentiles", which he describes as "a carefully documented treatise exposes the JEWS and explains what you must do to protect your White family." Other writings include "Hitler's Worst Mistake" and "Liars, Murderers, Rats, and Thieves," all diatribes against Jews, African-Americans, and other minority groups.

I discovered that the domain name of the website is registered to a Steve Reimink. Reimink, a supporter of presidential candidate Ron Paul, popped up on a number of websites concerning issues about illegal immigrants. Among those was an email to President Bush that said, in part: "We further demand that there not be any amnesty given to illegals, NO free services, no funding, no payments to and for illegal immigrants. We are fed up with the lack of action about this matter and are tired of paying for services to illegals." No word if Reimink was involved, or had knowledge of von Brunn's plans at the Holocaust Museum.

Because this happened in Washington, DC, literally just steps from the White House, that this will be a wake-up call that violence can happen anywhere, and that no one is really safe from people with weapons intending to do harm, all in the name of an extremist belief. I hope that some good can come of this, and that congress will pass gun legislation designed to prevent this from happening again.