White House Secret Service Gun Accident

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

ABC News' Bret Hovell Reports: Two White House Secret Service agents are in the hospital Tuesday after the accidental discharge of a government-issued firearm.

Both secret service agents -- one with a bullet wound to his leg, the other with shrapnel wounds to his face -- were taken to George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Neither of the injuries are considered life threatening.

At the time of the accident, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush were in Blacksburg, Va., attending the Virginia Tech convocation ceremony.

The incident happened at 2:10pm in or around the Southwest gate of the White House, according to the Secret Service.

Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/04/white_house_sec.html

[BeyondGeography]

1. From the "you can't make this stuff up" department

[saigon68]

4. They shouldn't "Play" with guns

By their very nature "children" should be kept away from guns

[intheflow]

17. Seriously!

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hekate]

19. We had one of those in 2000, and it didn't work out so well

I consider what the Supreme Court and Bushites did as the US's first real coup d'etat.
>sigh<

Hekate

[DrDan]

3. a picture of Barney Fife popped into my mind

as I read this post . . .

Early Andy Griffith shows had Barney's gun going off every time he took it out of the holster . . . unless he kept his bullet in his shirt pocket . . .

[partylessinOhio]

5. Was Cheney involved in this?

This is really damned ridiculous. I am alarmed that standards are falling in all areas of our government agencies.

Guns are not toys and SS should know that if anyone does.

[LiberalFighter]

13. Maybe they were stopping Cheney from taking over

[jbonkowski]

6. They probably weren't qualified to be Secret Service

I'm guessing they got the jobs because they belonged to the Federalist Society and attended Bob Jones University.

That would fit the current admin's M.O.

jim

[Lerkfish]

7. LOL!

:clap:

[Ian David]

9. Maybe they were both loyal Bushies and against Roe v Wade? n/t

[youngdem]

12. Seems in keeping with the spirit of your post, they would also have to have a previous gun incident

and be legally blind in the left eye.

[Doctor_J]

8. Why was the 2nd agent's face near the other's leg?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Maybe.

[angstlessk]

10. Now, that question made me laugh out loud!

Enquiring minds indeed!

[Xenotime]

14. You never know what they are doing

[SayWhatYo]

21. hehehe

[MADem]

26. That's an EXCELLENT question!!! nt

[youngdem]

11. I'm sitting here thinkin of what their body positions must have been for these injuries

And I keep thinking :wtf:

Unless the bullet was shot in the holster hitting the leg, then bouncing off of the floor/ground, then pieces of the bullet ricocheted off of the floor striking the other person in the face, someone has some explaining to do about how someone's leg, gun and another man's face were all near each other in the normal course of standing guard outside of the White House gate.

Hope they are both ok. I would hope they are just more embarrassed than injured.

[RamboLiberal]

15. Wonder if it was one of their rifles

How they hold those at low position. If object or finger accidentally got in trigger - boom, hitting one agent in leg. Shrapnel from bullet hitting ground or other solid object that would cause it to fragment sends shrapnel that hits other agent in face.

[yardwork]

16. I wonder what really happened

This mis-administration has had many bizarre accidents - pretzel choking sofa tumbling bicycle wrecking segway crashing morans!

[Morgana LaFey]

28. Because this Administration IS a bizarre accident! nt

[drm604]

18. Hmm...

From the same article:

Unrelated, but happening at the same time, at 2:11pm Tuesday, Secret Service agents noticed a suspicious package outside the Northwest gate of the White House.

A bomb robot is investigating and the park to the north of the White House has been shut down and pedestrian traffic stopped.

I wonder if we're getting the real story here. Could this package story simply be an excuse for stopping pedestrian traffic for some other reason? Seems like an odd coincidence and the accidental gunfire story seems bizarre. Could there have been some kind of attack on the Whitehouse? Or maybe an attempt to carry out some kind of warrant or subpoena?

Unlikely, but I have to wonder.

[superconnected]

20. If only everyone had guns, this wouldn't have happened.

(sarcasm)

And todays news media winner, Guns!

How come guns keep ending up in the wrong peoples hands, anyway?

Oh yeah, cause some people believe everyone should have them.

[The Count]

22. No wonder W started the comments on VA with "the right to bear arms"

Now I get it!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x675462

[The Count]

23. They were arguing: "Great President!" "No, The Greatest" - and tempers flared

[northzax]

24. accidents will happen

even to the best trained people in the world.

ironically, you can tell they weren't seriously injured because they went to the Ronald W Reagan Center for Emergency Medicine at GW, which is the second best (albiet closer) trauma center in DC. If you are really fucked, you want to go to Washington Hospital Center, which while farther away, is the best place in the region, perhaps in the country, for gun shot or stab wounds (one of the places the military sends docs in peacetime to learn about gun shots) I have a good friend who was stabbed and knew she was in trouble when she heard 'Washington Hospital" instead of the closer "GW" in the ambulance. (she's fine)

[GuvWurld]

25. The Secret Service are the biggest traitors

Their loyalty is clearly to a man before their nation. As we desperately seek ways to make a difference; to have an influence; to remove from power those who can't be trusted with it or didn't earn the privilege through legitimate elections in the first place; we think to suggest that insiders start leaking documents but I do not see discussion of the treasonous SS agents who are prepared to give their life for an altogether undeserving man rather than truly serving their nation by contributing to domestic regime change.

I grant you, if I'm wrong about one or more of them, it's not likely you or I would be privy to their secret scheming. My point is that we should bring this topic into the popular discourse. Start to create some heat and pressure for these agents, perhaps to simply resign and refuse to defend a war criminal. Think of the value of merely having this frame introduced for discussion. What are the arguments to defend them? Whatever they may be, invoking them reinforces the frame.

[truthisfreedom]

27. Is that a non-sequitur?

You actually sound a little nutty. I could see if bush was impeached and found guilty, and the SS was keeping him holed up somewhere and shooting at the authorites who were trying to take him away, then we could call the SS traitors. But right now, they look a little more like the Keystone Kops.

[GuvWurld]

29. I agree, but step out of this moment

The moment is gone. These people have an unconscionable job, day in and day out. How they look from this one incident is not the point, or if you prefer, it is a non sequitur.