United States

It should've been the shot heard around the world. Chances are, you didn't hear it. An ominous sort of history was made last week near Austin, Texas, but it seems to have largely escaped notice. There was some media coverage, yes, but less than, say, Lindsay Lohan's latest stint in rehab, certainly less than you'd think for something whose ramifications will likely shadow us for years. On May 2, you see, a group called Defense Distributed, led by law student and self-described anarchist Cody Wilson, accomplished what was apparently the first successful firing of a gun "printed" entirely by a 3-D printer.

There are millions of immigrants in our country who aspire to become citizens, but under our broken immigration laws, they have no way to earn citizenship. I personally know some of these hard-working immigrants, and I think it's hurting our country to keep them living in the shadows. That's why I'm calling on Congress to protect the path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States and vote in favor of reform this year. We need real solutions, and rounding up 11 million people or asking them to self-deport is not only inhumane but completely unrealistic.

It is unfortunate that the authors of the recent commentary, "Don't let Israel discriminate," (April 30), distort the purpose and the effect of the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act. This bill merely states that the State of Israel is designated as a country that is eligible for the Visa Waiver Program. This Visa Waiver Program waives the necessity of obtaining a visa for certain foreign visitors that meet certain requirements. These requirements include that the country of origin is friendly to the U.S., that it has in place high-levels of security so that adequate information on the visiting persons helps assure that they are not threats, that the visitors enter the U.S. for a limited time and for valid business purposes and that the visitors have plans to return to their country of origin.

I read with interest James Maxeiner's op-ed, "The Bavarian case for registering guns" (April 28) in The Sun. Mr. Maxeiner advocates for the licensing of gun owners and registration of firearms, what he calls "sensible regulations on firearms. " He rationalized that if Bavarians "...accept that they must be licensed to own and operate their Ultimate Driving Machines, so too do they accept, without objection, that they must be licensed to own and shoot firearms," so should the citizens of the United States.

A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate that would allow a foreign country, Israel, to discriminate against select groups of American citizens - including Americans who have expressed criticism of its policies. Disappointingly, the bill, S.B. 462 (also known as the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013), is co-sponsored by Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin. Those who stand to be most affected by this piece of legislation are Arab Americans and Muslim Americans. However, it may also apply to individuals who wish to visit or work in Israel and/or the Palestinian territories that Israel has occupied since 1967.

Do the people of the United States know that the U.S. Senate voted favorably on several amendments to the gun control bill? A majority of senators approved amendments requiring background checks for online and gun show purchases, providing special oversight of mentally ill persons and setting forth other limitations on gun purchases. The number of senators voting for these amendments ranged from 52 to 58. All of these votes were for naught because the Republican Party called for a filibuster, and the Democratic Party leadership then pulled the bill from further consideration.

Spot the International Space Station moving across the night sky this week. Chances arise the next three nights, but the best viewing opportunity Wednesday is possible to coincide with rain and thunderstorms. Look tonight at 8:59 p.m., Tuesday at 9:45 p.m. and Wednesday at 8:54 p.m. In each case, the space station will appear brighter than a star moving steadily across the sky, first appearing on the northwestern horizon. Wednesday's will be the best chance, with the spacecraft taking a path directly overhead and at its brightest.

Agnes Crowley McCartney, an assistant in a Towson legal office who was a British World War II defense worker, died of cancer April 17 at Stella Maris Hospice. The Cockeysville resident was 90. Born Agnes Crowley in Glasgow, Scotland, she began work alongside her grandparents in a bakery they operated. Her family said Mrs. McCartney recalled living through the Depression of the 1930s. During World War II, she went to work at a shipyard and helped make anti-aircraft guns. "She remembered the V-2 missile bombings when she would hide in a shelter and listen for the popping sounds of the missiles approaching," said her daughter, Catherine Preller of Hunt Valley.

In the two months after 9/11, I called Baltimore County police to check out a black-and-tan backpack left by an office door in Towson, reported an abandoned carry-on bag at BWI to Maryland State Police and refused to watch a bulky valise for a stranger who wanted to leave it with me while he went to the restroom at the airport. Anyone who lived through 9/11 remembers those days of hyper-vigilance. And if that uncomfortable state of mind ever left us as the years went by, it certainly returned last week.

The day couldn't have turned out better for owner Irv Naylor. And it wasn't too shabby for jockey James Slater, either. With Slater in the saddle, Naylor's Alfa Beat captured the 111th running of the Grand National Steeplechase in Butler, adding a punctuation mark to a four-win performance at the Middleburg (Va.) Spring Races that shot Naylor into the national lead among owners in purses won. All four Naylor horses who prevailed in Virginia were trained by Slater's wife, Brianne.