Are objects evil, or is it the purpose for which a person uses it which is evil? This is a fundamental question that underlies many public policy debates in our country, but rarely does it so near the surface as it is in the debate over gun control.

Suspected Ft. Hood gunman Army Major Nidal Hasan attempted to contact suspected al-Qaeda collaborators, and the Army may have known about it for months.This is the alarming story being reported today by ABC news. According to the account published on abcnews.com, intelligence officials familiar with the classified details of the investigation confirmed to reporters that Hasan was known to be using “electronic means” to contact radical Islamists sympathetic to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia squeezes past a pillar at the back of the House Chamber and sits in an empty seat, his right hand on the left elbow of fellow Republican, Anh “Joseph” Cao, freshman from Louisiana. In a voice soft enough to be described as hushed, but with a tone and a pace that is noticeably anxious to the point of being pleading, he encourages Cao to demonstrate party loyalty and vote no on the “Affordable Health Care for America” (H.R. 3962), which as we now know was later passed by the House.