Threats Against Obama Soar

(NEWSER) - The Secret Service is struggling to cope with a huge number of threats being made against President Obama, according to the author of a new book on the agency. Threats against the president have quadrupled since Obama took office to some 30 a day, few of which are publicized for fear of attracting copycats, according to writer Ronald Kessler. Instead of boosting agent numbers, however, the service has ordered agents to work longer hours and skip training sessions, reports the Telegraph. More»

Multiple gun owner charged with threatening the prez after statements in bank

(NEWSER) - The Secret Service is hunting a man who took all of his money out of a Utah bank and told the teller he was on a "mission to kill" the president, the Salt Lake Tribune. Daniel James Murray has been charged with making threats against the president. Authorities say he has at least eight registered firearms. More»

Image was posted on policeman's Facebook page

(NEWSER) - The Secret Service is investigating an online image of Arizona men showing off an Obama T-shirt full of bullet holes, it said yesterday. The seven young men in the picture are holding guns as one displays a T-shirt bearing President Obama's face and the word "hope." The image appeared on an Arizona police officer's Facebook page last week; the picture was taken down yesterday, the New York Times reports. "We’re aware of it, and we’re conducting the appropriate follow-up steps," says a Secret Service rep. More»

Court clears Walter Bagdasarian for exhorting people to 'shoot the [racial slur]'

(NEWSER) - The First Amendment protects even racists calling for the president’s assassination, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today, overturning the conviction of Walter Bagdasarian. Bagdasarian was convicted of threatening to kill a presidential candidate two weeks ahead of the 2008 election for an online rant in which he called for people to “shoot the n*****,” and predicted that Obama would “have a 50 cal in his head soon,” the LA Times reports. More»

Michael Bowden would 'put Obama against the wall and shoot him'

(NEWSER) - A 78-year-old South Carolina veteran has been arrested after threatening to shoot the president. Michael Stephen Bowden, also a former New York City police officer and fire captain, told a nurse at a Veteran Affairs clinic he "would like to shoot the president then myself." He was arrested after telling another nurse he wanted to kill Obama "because he is not doing enough to help African Americans." Federal agents found 16 guns in his home when they searched it the next day, WYFF reports. More»