Please be advised that this was written before the President’s 10:30 p.m. press conference.

You want a White House Ballroom? The chances have increased tonight, now that there was a shooting at the Washington Hilton where the President was to speak at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Wait and see. Trump couldn’t have organized this better.

The Washington Hilton is the standard venue for very big events like this, whether they involve the government or not. A few thousand people can be served dinner in the Hilton ballroom, and you can’t get that amount of room elsewhere.

But the Washington Hilton can be very problematic. It depends on your age whether you think that 40 years is a long time or not, but 40 years ago, Ronald Reagan was shot and almost killed as he left the ballroom. And now this.

There are other problems with the Hilton, and perhaps this would be the case anywhere. When there is a large event at the Hilton involving a president, security sets up a large perimeter around the hotel, blocking streets and cutting off traffic. When this happens at night, this is bad enough. But when it happens during the day, such as it does every year with the National Prayer Breakfast, when the traffic on Connecticut Avenue, a very major commuting street, is brought to a complete halt.

Argument after argument for a White House Ballroom. Clearly, no matter how hard the Hilton tries to protect its guests (and there is an extraordinary amount of attention to security), including when the guest list includes the president of the United States, there can be breaches. Maybe the same would be true if the event were held at the White House; but maybe not.

We don’t yet know what the attacker had in mind. Was he after the president, or was he going to fire randomly? But it does show that, even if the shooter’s final goal was not met, a shooter can cause a lot of damage and create a lot of havoc.

And, because any event like this tends to encourage others to follow suit, you have to worry about other possible attacks. And that would include attacks on synagogues, for example. Today, there were probably 500 or more at Adas Israel, all coming through one door, and everyone having to go through magnetometer. But how sensitive is that magnetometer? It is certainly not set at the level you have at airports or certain government buildings. And if an individual or group decided to storm the entrance, how much resistance could the guards put up? The entrance opens right into the large foyer leading to the various building venues, and people are always wandering back and forth. Clearly, there would be casualties, and evenings and events like tonight make you realize what unfortunately is possible.

Tomorrow (Sunday), we are spending most of the day at another DC area synagogue, B’nai Israel in Rockville at a Haberman Institute Day of Learning featuring scholar Daniel Matt teaching about the Zohar. When you think about how much time we, our family members, and others we know spend in Jewish institutions, it does make you wonder what might happen.

On the other hand (sorry, but this is where my mind is now), tragedy can strike anywhere. We just completed at 2000+ mile road trip with an 83 year old driver. How safe is that? And, just this week, there was a tragedy in St. Louis, when prominent St. Louis journalist and booster, Ray Hartmann was killed when he was simply driving on Highway 64 at the Highway 270 exit, a location about one half mile from where we were staying, and an intersection which we passed while in town last week. How was Hartmann killed? He did nothing wrong, nor did anyone else. He was killed when two tires on a semi-trailer truck exploded and flew at his car. Who would have thunk that possible?

POSTSCRIPT: the shooter was apparently a 31 year old Caltech graduate with no criminal record or known history of instability known to those who knew him as brilliant. You never can tell.