Bullets and Baseball

"How do you like someone shooting back at you?"
--Rafe McCawley (Pearl Harbor)

This morning a gunman opened fire on Republican congressmen as they were practicing on an Alexandra baseball diamond for the upcoming annual game against congressional Democrats at Nationals Park. One congressman, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (LA) was shot in the hip. Several others, including two Capitol Police officers and an aide, were also reported as sustaining non-life threatening injuries.

Details are still emerging on the shooter, who was wounded and taken to a local hospital under custody where it is now being reported that he has died from his injuries. What does seem apparent from the accounts of several congressmen on the field is that the shooter was using an AR-type rifle and got off at least 50 rounds (implying multi mags) as players on the diamond scattered and sought cover.

The Capitol Police officers who returned fire and brought down the shooter were there because Scalise's leadership position merits a security detail when he travels locally.

Clearly, if guns were not on the scene to fire in a self-defense capacity, then this baseball field quite likely would have become a killing field.