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BASE jumpers Andrew Rossig and James Brady, who parachuted off New York’s One World Trade Center, “sullied the memories” of 9/11 victims, a judge has ruled.

Andrew Rossig, 34, and James Brady, 33, were convicted of reckless endangerment and unauthorized climbing in connection with the jump in September 2013.

The jumpers were fined $2,000 each on August 10 and given community service.

They leapt from the top of the 104-storey skyscraper after sneaking through a hole in a construction fence.

A third jumper, Marko Markovich, will be sentenced on August 17.

Base jumping is an extreme sport, which involves leaping from high structures with a parachute.

Photo Getty Images

Photo Getty Images

The jumpers filmed their night-time exploits at One World Trade Center using helmet cameras and posted the video online.

The building, which was still under construction at the time, is located at the same site where 2,700 lost their lives in the Islamist attack on September 11, 2001.

It contains a museum and memorial garden dedicated to those who died.

Judge Juan Merchan said: “These defendants tarnished the building before it even opened and sullied the memories of those who jumped on 9/11, not for sport but because they had to.”

In June, a jury acquitted each of the three men of the more serious charge of burglary.

Speaking after sentencing, Andrew Rossig apologized for his actions and vowed never to parachute in New York City again.

“We understand that what we did could possibly have endangered other people and it’s never going to happen again,” he added.

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John Hinckley Jr., the man who shot White House aide James Brady in a 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, will not face new murder charges, federal prosecutors say.

A medical examiner had ruled James Brady’s death in August a homicide as he died of injuries related to the shooting.

Prosecutors say they cannot charge John Hinckley Jr. as he had already been found not guilty by reason of insanity.

John Hinckley, 59, has been confined to a psychiatric hospital since the verdict.

James Brady, who had suffered brain damage and partial paralysis, died in August at the age of 73.

Police said “an autopsy was conducted and revealed the cause of death to be a gunshot wound and consequences thereof, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide”.

On January 2, the prosecutors said the original verdict ruled out new charges.James Hinckley Jr

They added that Washington DC courts ruled at the time that a homicide prosecution could only be brought if a victim died within “a year and a day” of the attack.

“In summary, any further prosecution of Hinckley premised on his March 1981 shooting of Mr. Brady would be precluded,” the US attorney’s office said.

Barry Levine, John Hinckley’s lawyer, said he was not surprised at the latest decision, adding: “Mr. Hinckley is haunted by the tragedy that his conduct, more than 30 years ago, created.”

A lifelong Republican, James Brady had served in the Nixon and Ford administrations and as a Senate aide before joining Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign.

On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley opened fire on the president’s party outside the Washington DC Hilton Hotel, striking four people, including James Brady and Ronald Reagan.

James Brady was shot in the head and was the most seriously wounded. Ronald Reagan was shot in one lung. A Secret Service agent and a police officer suffered lesser wounds.

Photos and video of the incident show the wounded press secretary sprawled on the ground as Secret Service agents rushed the president into his vehicle and others wrestled John Hinckley to the ground.

Since the trial John Hinckley has been committed to a Washington DC psychiatric hospital, but has been allowed to spend limited time at his mother’s home.

James Brady, who served in three Republican administrations, became an advocate for stricter gun control.

He lobbied for legislation to require background checks for handgun sales.

The so-called Brady Bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

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James Brady’s death has been ruled a homicide, 33 years after he was wounded in an assassination attempt, police in Washington have said.

The former White House press secretary was shot in the 1981 attempt on President Ronald Reagan’s life by John Hinckley Jr.

James Brady suffered brain damage and partial paralysis and died this week at 73.

John Hinckley Jr. has been confined to a psychiatric hospital since he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

James Brady died on August 4 at the age of 73.

James Brady’s death has been ruled a homicide, 33 years after he was wounded in an assassination attempt

James Brady’s death has been ruled a homicide, 33 years after he was wounded in an assassination attempt

A lifelong Republican, James Brady had served in the Nixon and Ford administrations and as a Senate aide before joining Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign.

On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on Ronald Reagan’s party outside the Washington Hilton Hotel, striking four people, including James Brady and President Reagan.

James Brady was shot in the head and was the most seriously wounded. Ronald Reagan was shot in one lung. A Secret Service agent and a police officer suffered lesser wounds.

Photos and video of the incident show the wounded press secretary sprawled on the ground as Secret Service agents rushed the president into his vehicle and others wrestled John Hinckley Jr. to the ground.

The former press secretary suffered brain damage, partial paralysis, short-term memory impairment and slurred speech.

John Hinckley Jr. was tried and found not guilty due to insanity. Since the trial he has been committed to a Washington DC psychiatric hospital, but has been allowed to spend limited time at his mother’s home.

James Brady, who served in three Republican administrations, became an advocate for stricter gun control.

He lobbied for legislation to require background checks for handgun sales. The so-called Brady Bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

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Former White House press secretary James Brady has died at 73.

James Brady was shot in the head in a 1981 attempt on President Ronald Reagan’s life.

His family said James Brady, who was left wheelchair-bound in the shooting, died after an undisclosed illness.

James Brady, who served in three Republican administrations, became an advocate for stricter gun control.

He lobbied for a law signed in 1993 that bore his name and required background checks for handgun sales.

In 2000, Democratic President Bill Clinton renamed the White House press briefing room in his honor.

James Brady was shot in the head in a 1981 attempt on President Ronald Reagan's life

James Brady was shot in the head in a 1981 attempt on President Ronald Reagan’s life

President Barack Obama described James Brady as a “legend” at the White House and praised his warmth and professionalism and “the strength he brought to bear in recovering from the shooting that nearly killed him”.

“Since 1993, the law that bears Jim’s name has kept guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals,” he said.

“An untold number of people are alive today who otherwise wouldn’t be, thanks to Jim.”

James Brady, a lifelong Republican, served in the Nixon and Ford administrations and as a Senate aide before joining Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign.

On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on the president’s party outside a Washington hotel, striking four people, including James Brady and Ronald Reagan.

James Brady was the most seriously wounded. Ronald Reagan was shot in one lung. Two law enforcement officers suffered lesser wounds.

Photos and video of the incident show a wounded James Brady sprawled on the ground as Secret Service agents rushed Ronald Reagan into his vehicle and others wrestled John Hinckley Jr. to the ground.

The former press secretary suffered brain damage, partial paralysis, short-term memory impairment and slurred speech.

John Hinckley Jr. was tried and found not guilty due to insanity. Since the trial he has been committed to a Washington DC psychiatric hospital, but has been allowed to spend limited time at his mother’s home.

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President Barack Obama today signaled he would push for tight gun control in the wake of the massacre of 26 at an elementary school in Connecticut, saying there had been “too many” mass shootings in America.

During a moving appearance, the president said the time had come to “take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics”.

Barack Obama struggled for words, pausing several times as he wept and described the “beautiful little kids between the ages of five and ten years old” slaughtered in the school massacre in Connecticut.

Seldom has a head of state expressed greater public emotion in modern times. White House aides held hands and also wept as they sat in the briefing room named after James Brady, the press aide wounded in 1981 when President Ronald Reagan was shot and who later became the nation’s leading gun control advocate.

Barack Obama was not the only one who showed deep emotion over the shooting. Parents lined up at schools across the country to pick up their children and make sure they made it home safely.

School administrators from Washington D.C. to Boston and Iowa issued statements assuring parents that they had stepped up security and that their schools were still safe.

In Charlestown, Massachusetts, Bob Carr showed up early at the elementary school his three daughters attend. He told the Boston Globe he wanted to be there when they got out of class.

Parents have already begun asking for more police officers and security guards to be posted at their children’s school.

In Washington, political meringue has also begun.

Behind the President’s emotion was a clear political message that Barack Obama, re-elected to a second and final presidential term, intended to limit the lawful possession of weapons, perhaps by pushing to reinstate the Clinton-era ban on so-called assault weapons.

“We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years,” Barack Obama said.

“And each time I learn the news, I react not as a president, but as anybody else would as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there’s not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.

“The majority of those who died today were children – beautiful, little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them – birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.

“So our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost.

“Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors, as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early and there are no words that will ease their pain.”

President Barack Obama today signaled he would push for tight gun control in the wake of the massacre of 26 at an elementary school in Connecticut

President Barack Obama today signaled he would push for tight gun control in the wake of the massacre of 26 at an elementary school in Connecticut

Again, Barack Obama repeated that such events had happened “too many times”, citing other mass shootings. Whether it is an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children.

“And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”

That was a thinly-veiled message to Republicans, as well as conservative Democrats, that support for the Second Amendment constitutional right to bear arms should not be allowed to stand in the way of banning certain types of weapons or limiting background checks.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a prominent advocate of gun control, issued a statement on Friday criticizing the president Congress for failing to take action on the issue.

“President Obama rightly sent his heartfelt condolences to the families in Newtown. But the country needs him to send a bill to Congress to fix this problem,” Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.

“Calling for <<meaningful action>> is not enough. We need immediate action. We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership – not from the White House and not from Congress.”

The gun control debate was reignited in the immediate aftermath of Friday’s shooting, as every major TV network gathered panels of journalists and gun control experts to discuss the political implications for Washington.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, named after James Brady and one of the largest national organizations promoting stricter firearm laws, was urging people on Friday to sign an online petition supporting their cause.

“Another day, another horrific shooting eating away at our collective peace of mind – this time at a school in Connecticut,” said Brady Campaign President Dan Gross.

“What matters is not what we do after the sensational tragedies. It’s what we do between them – to make the voice of the American public heard.”

Americans are split on whether the U.S. needs greater controls on the sales and licensing of guns.

In fact, since 1990, more and more Americans believe that gun control laws should be less strict.

“The percentage in favor of making the laws governing the sale of firearms <<more strict>> fell from 78% in 1990 to 62% in 1995, and 51% in 2007,” Gallup reported.

“In the most recent reading, Gallup in 2010 found 44% in favor of stricter laws. In fact, in 2009 and again last year, the slight majority said gun laws should either remain the same or be made less strict.”

Barack Obama was forced to address the issue of gun control during the 2012 election campaign after a lone gunman – former neuroscience graduate student James Holmes – opened fire on a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and wounding 70 others.

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