You ever play Assassin in school? It’s a lot of fun. The rules vary, but we got really into it: At one point, I was the bodyguard to the senior president and jumped in front of a Nerf dart to protect her. It was a super-awesome move and to this day I’ll never understand why she decided to go out with Blaine for prom instead of me.
I don’t want to talk about it.
What I do want to talk about: Popular Czech President Vaclav Klaus got kinda-assassinated. It was by an Airsoft gun. His bodyguards are really embarrassed by this. I would’ve stopped it, is all I’m saying.
The incident went down during a ceremony to open a bridge in Chrastava, about 100 km (62 miles to us Americans) north of Prague.
A young man in military camouflage walked through the crowd, pointed a gun within a meter (that’s about a yard; seriously, guys, we really got to get on board with metric) of the president, and pulled the trigger.
Then the president got hit on the arm with a pellet or two.
Airsoft guns are similar to paintball, but the models are based off of real firearms. Low-budget indie films use them all the time, because the action on the pistol looks very real.
The scene was very reminiscent of my Resident Evil fan fiction, wherein the Prime Minister of France was assassinated by a Bio-Organic Weapon who tore through a crowd at the dedication of a new agency set to fight bioterror. You should read it, it holds up well.
President Klaus, for his part, told his bodyguards (translated to English): “You really did not manage this well.” Which is the understatement of the day.
Here’s Joe and Steve with more:
Question, Insurgents: Can an executive or government official really be fully protected in our day and age?
