House votes to bar gun confiscation
The House voted Tuesday to prevent law enforcement officers from confiscating legally owned guns during a national disaster or emergency.
Republican Rep. Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana lawmaker who sponsored the bill, said firearms seizures after Hurricane Katrina left residents unable to defend themselves.
“Many of them were sitting in their homes without power, without water, without communication,” he said. “It was literally impossible to pick up a phone and call 911.”
The House voted 322-99 in support of the bill. Senators voted 84-16 earlier this month to include a similar prohibition in a homeland security funding bill.
Seymour, Ind.
Teen says he’s highway shooter
A 17-year-old confessed Tuesday to committing a series of highway shootings that killed one man, wounded another and damaged at least four vehicles, authorities said.
Zachariah Blanton was arrested earlier in the day and was jailed in Jackson County. He faced preliminary charges of murder, attempted murder and criminal recklessness, prosecutor Stephen Pierson said.
Blanton, of Gaston, admitted to the sniper shootings during questioning by investigators, but a motive was unclear, State Police Superintendent Paul Whitesell said.
Orlando, Fla.
Cruise ship’s tilt was ‘human error’
Human error caused a cruise ship to abruptly tilt at sea last week, sending furniture and debris flying about the boat and injuring 240 passengers, a cruise line official said.
Though federal investigations continue, Princess Cruises President Alan Buckelow wrote in a letter to passengers that “the incident was due to human error and the appropriate personnel changes have been made.”
No further specifics were given in the letter, which was dated Monday and posted on the company’s Web site.
Company spokeswoman Julie Benson said in a telephone interview Tuesday that some crew members had been reassigned, but she declined to give further details.
“The captain remains in command of the ship. We have the utmost confidence in him,” she said.
The Crown Princess unexpectedly heeled to its side last week shortly after departing Port Canaveral, where it had stopped before a scheduled return to New York to complete a nine-day Caribbean cruise.
The ship, carrying 3,100 passengers and 1,200 crew, tilted an estimated 16 to 18 degrees, tumbling passengers, chairs, tables and other objects, and seriously injuring at least 20 people. More than 90 people were taken to hospitals, two with critical wounds. As of Monday all but one had been released.