Holder wants $15M to train police for shootings

Attorney General Eric Holder pressed Congress Tuesday to approve $15 million in funding to pay for active-shooter training for police officers around the country in the wake of this week’s deadly rampage near Kansas City.

In a weekly video message posted to the Justice Department’s Web site, Holder said an average rate of five active shooting situations per year in the United States between 2000 and 2008 has roughly tripled since 2009. 

{mosads}The toll, he said, was in evidence Sunday at two Jewish facilities in Kansas, where a gunman killed three people, and earlier this month at Fort Hood, where a shooting left four dead.

“As a nation, we must confront this alarming rise and all of its underlying causes — honestly, factually, and without regard for political consequence,” Holder said. “We must deal with these incidents whenever they happen — but, just as importantly, we must prevent them whenever we can.”

Read more from The Hill.