Gun Owner Nabbed Near Obama Was Bush Employee!

[Bravo Zulu]

The man who was arrested with two guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition near the Capitol during President Barack Obama's health care speech in September had been an employee of the George W. Bush White House. The arrest of the man, Joshua Bowman, was widely reported at the time, but the news stories made no mention of his previous employment: For several years he worked in the Executive Office of the President, dealing with tech issues, including White House emails, his lawyer, George Braun, tells Mother Jones.

On the night of September 9, Bowman was on his way to meet Braun, a Bush administration political appointee, at the National Republican Club on First Street, SE when he was stopped by Capitol Police around 7:45 p.m.—minutes before Obama was scheduled to deliver a major address to Congress pushing his health care initiative. Bowman had driven up to a security checkpoint and told officers he wanted to park, but his lack of a permit for the area aroused their suspicions, and they asked to search his car.

when he consented to a search of his vehicle, a Honda Civic with a bumper sticker proclaiming, "I'll keep my guns, freedom, and money.... you keep the change." The officers found a Beretta 12 gauge automatic shotgun, a .22 caliber long rifle, and over 400 rounds of ammunition in Bowman's trunk. The Capitol Police took Bowman into custody and charged him with two counts of possession of an unregistered firearm and one count of unlawful possession of ammunition. He faced up to $3,000 in fines and as much as three years in jail. (The case is still pending.)

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2009/12/joshua-bowman-gun-charges-bush-white-house-employee

[FreakinDJ]

1. Its being "Debunked" - sorry

Sorry - not really the type of weapons 1 would use to carry out an assualt on the POTUS

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7305322

[Ian David]

2. Whether or not he actually intended to shoot anyone is not at issue.

You're debunking a strawman.

[FreakinDJ]

3. Others are assuming it was a viable assassination attempt

did you check the link

[Ian David]

12. So?

You're claiming THIS OP was "debunked."

You didn't say, "Some posters commenting on a completely different thread are being debunked on an issue that you didn't even talk about."

You're still debunking a strawman that has nothing to do with anything the OP said in this thread.

But if it makes you feel better...



Here's your T-Ball trophy.

Thanks for playing.

[RamboLiberal]

17. He was meeting friends at National Republican Club

Including the guy he was hunting with the previous weekend. How the hell was that an assassination attempt. The Secret Service didn't press any charges.

MJ is acting like Faux on this one.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. It wasn't on the official "approved" list?

That's interesting.

[Renew Deal]

10. How was it "debunked?"

The article doesn't say he was a threat to the president, so what's debunked?

[X_Digger]

5. Tempest in a teapot

Dumbass forgets and leaves his hunting guns in his car, big whoop. Fine / jail him for the stupidity, but to spin it as an assassination plot ("—minutes before Obama was scheduled to deliver a major address to Congress pushing his health care initiative") is something that only MJ could do.

(400+ rounds isn't sensational, especially not when 22lr comes in boxes of 500 / 550, and shotgun shells in boxes of 200.)

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. You don't just 'forget' you have weapons in the car when you are

dropping in on the WH.

NOBODY is that stupid.

I'd posit, rather, that it was a test of the security. Just as I think the uninvited 'guests' at the WH dinner were. POB are probing for weaknesses that can be exploited later.

[X_Digger]

11. He _wasn't_ "dropping in on the WH", apparently..

"On the night of September 9, Bowman was on his way to meet Braun, a Bush administration political appointee, at the National Republican Club on First Street, SE when he was stopped by Capitol Police around 7:45 p.m."

[Major Hogwash]

13. Exactly. He's in DC and his car has an arsenal in it. Hmmm, some teapot, huh?

Of course, the douchebag gunnuts will say he was set up or something.

He was in his own car, loaded up with guns, so Obama must have moved from where he ws to make him look.

This guy knows the laws in DC, too.

He's guiltier than hell.

[X_Digger]

15. 22 rifle & 12ga duck gun = "arsenal"??

Now I know you're full of shit.

[T Wolf]

6. Isn't it possible that he was trying to get in, using his previous status as a WH employee? nt

[vadawg]

8. mayby with the shotgun hidden in his pants :)

seriously though, if he was going to sneak a gun into the whitehouse then a handgun would make more sense, the rifle and shotgun are hard to hide....

[Renew Deal]

9. What is "unlawful possession of ammunition"?

Do you need a permit to buy bullets? Can you transport bullets if you don't transport weapons? Is there "illegal ammunition?" :shrug:

[Major Hogwash]

14. 3 years in jail!!! Woo-hoo, send that Bush nut to jail until the next Presidential election!

Oh, man, that is so sweet.

Take that fucker straight to jail.
Do not pass Go.
Do not collect $200.

LoL

[RamboLiberal]

16. So who was this guy going to assassinate?

A top aide to Sen. James Webb was charged yesterday with trying to carry a loaded pistol and extra ammunition into a Senate office building, U.S. Capitol Police said.

The staffer, Phillip Thompson, told police that the gun belonged to Webb (D-Va.), authorities said. Thompson also said he forgot that the gun was in a briefcase and meant no harm, they said.

Thompson, 44, a longtime friend of Webb's and the senator's executive assistant, was jailed pending an appearance today in D.C. Superior Court. He was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possessing an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition.

The gun was discovered at 10:30 a.m. when Thompson arrived at the C Street entrance of the Russell Senate Office Building, according to Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a Capitol Police spokeswoman. An X-ray machine revealed the gun in a briefcase. Police also found two fully loaded magazines, officials said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032602102.html

Prosecutors today dismissed the gun charge filed last month against an aide to Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) who was caught bringing a loaded pistol into the Russell Senate Office Building.

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor said in a statement late today that his office had concluded that the essential elements of the charge -- carrying a pistol without a license -- could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Filed in D.C. Superior Court, the dismissal brings to an apparent end an embarrassing episode for Webb, a gun rights advocate, and the aide, Phillip Thompson, a former marine who serves as Webb's executive assistant.

Thompson was entering the Russell Building on March 26 when a gun and ammunition showed up during a routine X-ray of his bag. Capital police officers seized the firearm and arrested Thompson, who explained that he had been safeguarding the gun for Webb and that he had picked up the wrong bag on his way to Capitol Hill.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042701759.html

People have brain farts including forgetting they have a gun in a bag or the trunk of a car when going in to a secure area. MJ's is knee jerking this as badly as Faux does on Dems. If Webb's aide had charges dismissed then so should this doofus. BTW I expect at some point that D.C.'s gun laws on this will be struck down.