Look up "sacrosanct" in the Oxford English Dictionary and you will find:

Of persons and things, esp. obligations, laws, etc.: Secured by a religious sanction from violation, infringement, or encroachment; inviolable, sacred.

As many of us were enjoying our Sunday afternoon this past weekend – perhaps coming home from church, or grilling out in the back yard – we heard reports that a gunman opened fire at a children’s production of “Annie� inside a church in Knoxville, Tennessee.

"Sacrosanct" doesn’t seem to mean what it used to. Many were saddened by the news, but few were surprised, because this is not a new event in America.

We’ve been here before.

In fact, CNN reported that this was the fourth shooting attack on a church in 15 months, the most recent being the Colorado church assault where a suicidal gunman was stopped by a former Minneapolis police officer who had been specifically tasked to be on the look-out for the shooter.

The accused gunman in Knoxville had a history of domestic violence and suicidal behavior, and had a protective order filed against him by his now ex-wife, back in March 2000.

One account reports that he once held a gun to his ex-wife’s head after “drinking heavily.� Apparently, he had also been charged with a DUI and refused to submit to a blood alcohol test.

If that isn’t enough, reports further say that he was motivated by a "hatred" of the "liberal movement" and targeted a church that to him symbolized advocacy of civil rights for African-Americans and gays.

When I say that we make it too easy for dangerous people to get guns in America, the accused Knoxville church shooter is exactly the kind of person I have in mind.

It seems this man couldn’t even get a job, yet he was able to walk out of an Anderson County, Tennessee pawnshop with the shotgun he would use a month later to kill two people, wound six others, and expect to be killed by police intervention.

On the other hand, it is important for us to take notice of the fact that the gunman could fire just three times because the shotgun he used was limited to three shells before he was forced to re-load.

Unarmed parishioners had the chance to tackle him while he paused. As bad as the Knoxville shooting was, it could have been much worse.

If we don’t have the laws to help keep firearms from a man like this, then clearly we are not doing enough in this country to keep dangerous weapons from dangerous people. Some say the answer is more private guns in church. But that simply accepts four church shootings in a year-and-a-half as “normal� in America.

We need to find ways to keep dangerous people from gaining easy access to firearms. There is much more we can do to protect our children and families and help prevent shootings that, if history is any guide, we can expect to happen again.

(Note to readers: This entry, along with past entries, has been co-posted on bradycampaign.org/blog and the Huffington Post.)

Early reports say the Knoxville church shooter used a "12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun."

It is not yet clear exactly what make and model of weapon the shooter is accused of using.

To those who may be unfamiliar with the phrase "semiautomatic shotgun," there were five models of such weapons prohibited under the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, including the "StreetSweeper" shotgun.

Such shotguns can fire multiple shells, quickly, with one pull of the trigger for each shot without having to manually chamber a round.

There are videos on YouTube that show how the firing of these shotguns differs from the perhaps more familiar over/under your granddad might hunt ducks with.

For example, watch this man fire nine shells in about 3 seconds:

As opposed to this man, who has to re-load two shells at a time:

See the protection order filed against the shooter in 2000 here.

Some excellent reporting in today's Knoxville News-Sentinel:

The shotgun-wielding suspect in Sunday’s mass shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church was motivated by a hatred of “the liberal movement,� and he planned to shoot until police shot him, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said this morning.

Jim D. Adkisson, 58, of Powell wrote a four-page letter in which he stated his “hatred of the liberal movement,� Owen said. “Liberals in general, as well as gays.�

Adkisson said he also was frustrated about not being able to obtain a job, Owen said.

The letter, recovered from Adkisson’s black 2004 Ford Escape, which was parked in the church’s parking lot at 2931 Kingston Pike, indicates he had been planning the shooting for about a week.

“He fully expected to be killed by the responding police,� the police chief said.

...

Officers recovered 76 shells for a 12-gauge, semiautomatic shotgun inside the church. Among those shells were three spent rounds. He had carried the shotgun inside the church in a guitar case, Owen said.

“He certainly intended to take a lot of casualties,� the chief said.

Adkisson is accused of killing two people and injuring seven others. He is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Greg McKendry, 60. Also killed in the shooting was Linda Kraeger, 61, who was visiting the church from Westside Unitarian Universalist Church.

[more]

In a separate News-Sentinel report:

The man who is accused of Sunday's church shooting was described today by a long-time acquaintance as a loner who hates "blacks, gays and anyone different from him.''

An accomplished musician, Jim David Adkisson was carrying a shotgun instead of a guitar in a guitar case when he went into Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Sunday morning and started shooting.

Adkisson's ex-wife, Liza Alexander of Powell, was a former long-time member of the church, congregant Barbara Kemper said today.

Alexander, a resident of the Powell community inside Anderson County, repeatedly refused comment when contacted today.

The Adkissons' marriage disintegrated eight years ago after Adkisson had been drinking heavily and then put a gun to Alexander's head, said Carol Smallwood of Alice, Texas.

[more]

See other reports by AP, CNN, and regular updates from WVLT CBS-8 (Knoxville).

See also commentary by Jonathan Turley, R.J. Eskow, Joe Lauria, and by a TVUUC congregant, over at Daily Kos.

Rev. Rachel Smith's ideas are continuing to find purchase in the blogosphere.

David Waters' "Under God" blog today is the latest, talking about a church gun give-away:

... Praise the Lord and pass the automatic assault rifles. One nation, under God, locked and loaded. In Guns We Trust.

Rev. Rachel Smith, whose blog "God Not Guns" is a project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, calls it gundamentalism.

"America’s gun culture is marked by zeal closely akin to that of religious fundamentalism. The gun-rights movement is built upon a system of belief that is both absolutist and aggressive. It has its sacred text, its creed, its icon and its ideology."

And its adherents.

On the Windsor Hills web site, you’ll find a 30-minute video of highlights from the church’s 2007 youth conference. The video includes gun-battle scenes from “The Patriot,� Mel Gibson’s movie about the American Revolution. It includes scenes of the conference gun-shooting competition (cancelled this year) -- boys firing automatic and semi-automatic assault rifles at last year’s shooting competition.

[more]

It seems that whenever a representative of the NRA is asked whether their organization still supports the virtual machine gun ban in America, they figure out a way to dodge the question.

Until today's report in the Mobile Press-Register:

... While Alabamians support gun ownership, they do think there should be some restrictions in certain cases. Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed said felons who have paid their debt to society should not have a right to own a gun while 77 percent said they favor prohibiting ownership of fully automatic weapons.

...

The NRA's [spokeswoman Rachel] Parsons signaled disagreement with respondents who believe that people should be barred from keeping machine guns and fully automatic weapons in their homes.

Anyone wanting to own such a weapon faces a lengthy and demanding review process, including several background checks, Parsons said, adding that legally owned fully automatic firearms result in little or no crime.

"The NRA stands firmly by the notion that law-abiding citizens are not the problem," she said.

[more]

Aside from committing a Kinsley Gaffe about the NRA's position on the Federal machine gun ban - putting that organization at odds with almost 80% of Alabamians, not to mention the rest of America - Ms. Parsons also helped make the case for the law's effectiveness.

Almost certainly, a key reason why few machine guns are used in crime is because they have been heavily regulated since 1934, with new such weapons banned from manufacture since 1986.

As the news shows every week, just because someone hasn't broken a law doesn't mean they should get a gun - especially not a machine gun.