US journalist killings revive gun control debate

Yahoo – AFP, Robert MacPherson, 27 Aug 2015

This undated photo courtesy of WDBJ7-TV in Roanoke, Virginia shows Alison

 Parker and Adam Ward, two WDBJ7-TV employees, who were killed in an attack

at Bridgewater Plaza in Moneta, Virginia on August 26, 2015 (AFP Photo)

Roanoke (United States) (AFP) - The brazen killing of two US journalists during a live television broadcast by a former reporter who was fired by the station reignited calls Thursday for tougher gun control in America -- though hope for change is limited.

Mass shootings in the United States -- from the 2012 school massacre in Newtown to June's slaying of black churchgoers in Charleston -- regularly prompt hand-wringing about easy US access to guns, and a need for action.

The killings on Wednesday of reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, as they conducted an early morning on-air interview for WDBJ -- a CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia -- were no different.

"How many massacres do we have to have... before the public cries out and says what it is that they want us to do?" Roanoke Mayor David Bowers said on CNN. "We just haven't reached a consensus on this in America."

Parker and Ward were shot dead at close range by 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan, who was dismissed from WDBJ in 2013 over angry, erratic behavior. Images from Ward's camera as the attack took place were aired live.

The woman they were interviewing was also shot, but was in good condition in hospital on Thursday.

Flanagan, 41, -- also known as Bryce Williams -- fatally shot himself after fleeing the scene, but not before posting video of the attack on social media.

He sent a rambling manifesto to ABC News, saying he was a "human powder keg... just waiting to go BOOM!!!!" and had endured racial discrimination and bullying "for being a gay, black man."

Flanagan -- who was African American -- said he was sent over the edge by the Charleston church shooting. The suspect in that case, Dylann Roof, expressed support for white supremacist causes.

Parker's father Andy made an impassioned plea for change, saying his daughter's death had left his heart broken.

"I'm for the Second Amendment, but there has to be a way to force politicians that are cowards and in the pockets of the NRA to come to grips and make sense -- have sensible laws so that crazy people can't get guns," he said.

"It can't be that hard, and yet politicians from the local level to the state level to the national level, they side step the issue. They kick the can down the road. This can't happen anymore."

Right to bear arms

The constitution's Second Amendment -- enshrining the right to bear arms -- is defended tooth and nail by the National Rifle Association, the main US gun rights lobbying group, which has been successful in blunting past drives to restrict weapons sales.

US lawmakers have been hesitant to enact tougher limitations on access to guns, in part because they are loath to anger voters for whom the Second Amendment cannot be abridged in any way.

President Barack Obama made a concerted effort to push gun control legislation through Congress in the wake of the Newtown school shooting, but the draft went nowhere.

"It breaks my heart every time you read or hear about these kinds of incidents," Obama told an ABC affiliate in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

"What we know is that the number of people who die from gun-related incidents around this country dwarfs any deaths that happen through terrorism."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said efforts should focus on bolstering mental health treatment, rather than on gun restrictions.

"They should be talking about mental health because there are so many things to be done," Trump told CNN.

WDBJ TV weatherman Leo Hirshbrunner views the makeshift memorial at the

 gate of WDBJ's television studios August 27, 2015, in Roanoke, Virginia (AFP

Photo/Paul J. Richards)

Moment of silence

On Thursday, crestfallen staff at WDBJ mourned their colleagues, observing a moment of silence on-air.

"We will, over time, heal from this," said a grief-stricken morning anchor, Kimberly McBroom, holding hands with two colleagues on the set.

The moment of silence at the station in Roanoke, about 240 miles (385 kilometers) southwest of Washington, came at 6:45 am -- the exact time that Parker and Ward were shot and killed at close range.

Photos of the slain journalists were displayed on-air during the tribute to them.

Outside the studio gates, bouquets of flowers and shiny remembrance balloons were placed under a tree wrapped with two black mourning ribbons. Viewers and local residents came by to pay their respects.

"She was looking forward to life. I was looking forward to a life with her," WDBJ anchor Chris Hurst, Parker's boyfriend, told NBC News.

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"The Biggest Filter" - July 18-19, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“..  War - Nobody Sees What is Coming

Let's talk about war. Let's discuss something that very few are considering. What you expect next is completely and totally out of perspective of what's actually coming, because you only have one kind of knowledge about war. Your war has advanced over history with bigger explosions, higher yields and weapons that fire faster. Nuclear, laser, sound - all are far more efficient ways to terminate life. That's how war has evolved. However, there hasn't really been anything called anti-war devices, have there?

I'm going to give you an invitation for discovery, and some are already in the postulation stage of this. Multidimensional fields change 3D reality. Period. I've told you that lurking in your future are discoveries that will help you with every aspect of your life, mainly due to the discovery of what makes basic physics do what it does at the atomic level. If you fully understand multidimensionality, you can manipulate the formula for mass and create massless objects. You can even do it with the tools you have right now.

There is physics possible that can create certain kinds of fields - listen to me - certain kinds of heretofore unseen multidimensional fields that are harmless to your biology, but will alter some attributes of 3D. These fields are designer fields, and they are isolated and specifically designed for one purpose. When in the field, conventional explosive reactions can't happen. Can you imagine putting a field within rooms of a building so that no matter what weapon is fired, whether it's a machine gun or a pistol, it simply won't work! What about targeting an airplane when it drops a bomb and it won't explode? This is pure physics. The alteration of 3D reality through multidimensional designer fields, both small and large, is coming. I know you don't believe it, but just wait. As you start to discover multidimensional physics and the ability to control it, you will discover that there is a "benevolent attitude" of this kind of physics. You can't "weaponize it" as easily as you can 3D. It is an entirely different kind of reality.

Again, I tell you that when you understand how mass is created at the atomic level, you'll learn how to create massless objects. By the way, that has another name. You call it anti-gravity, but there is no such thing. It's just the ability to finally control the formula that creates gravity with mass. You understand that this is simple physics, don't you? And it's very easy to manipulate for benevolent uses through other fields that you do know about. Just like you have learned to control certain kinds of physics that are 3D, you can also control multidimensional physics. Imagine a planet where it doesn't matter what war device you had, it wouldn't work anymore! What do you think about that? Imagine physics having the ability to shatter the molecules of a biological weapon. Do you think that would change world politics? It's happening, it's going to happen. It's in the laboratory today. You're broaching the discovery of multidimensional physics. Being able to control that which you don't think is controllable is what you are doing. It's going to make such a difference to the Human race!

You don't believe it, since your knowledge of how things work just doesn't allow for such a thing. This is your filter.  ….”