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Gale Norton stepping down

Word from DC is that Interior Secretary Gale Norton is stepping down; rumors are that she may run for governor of Colorado. [UPDATE: Reuters confirms the report].

When I worked at Interior, 1982-92, Gale was for several years our Associate Solicitor (my boss's boss, in other words), and we talked quite a bit. She's thoroughly pro-gun, and tends to be a strongly libertarian conservative. I visited her in her office after she was appointed, and she remarked about guns and 9/11 that ordinarily in a crisis-type situation people would think of gun control, but 9/11 might be a turning point the other way. For years, we thought of external threats as nuclear missiles, now we think of them as terrorists. A handgun won't do a lot of good against an incoming missile, but might be handy in dealing with a terrorist.