Is President Bush going wobbly on the gun issue? If so, is that being kept secret?

According an activist quoted in today's Inquirer, Bush is now saying "we" have to "do something" about guns:

"It took the Amish to get killed for the president of the United States to say we had to do something about guns. If people can't get the guns so freely, maybe the violence can be stopped."

The closest thing I could find was a statement in his radio address about the need to keep schools safe:

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Saturday lamented recent "shocking acts of violence" in schools and promised that his administration would do what it can to keep centers of learning safe for students.

The White House is convening a conference on school safety Tuesday. Federal officials, school workers, parents, law enforcement officials and other experts are to gather in Chevy Chase, Md., a Washington suburb noted for exceptional schools.

The conference is being hosted by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. Bush and his wife, Laura, are expected to attend part of it.

"Our goal is clear: Children and teachers should never fear for their safety when they enter a classroom," the president said in his weekly radio address.

I'm thinking the activist must have been wrong. But is there any way to be sure -- to be absolutely sure -- about anything? Unless I had the text of Bush's radio address, how can I declare with 100% confidence what Bush did not say?

Another problem is that not everything makes it into the paper, and not everything in the paper makes it into the web site. For example, this Wednesday, Philadelphia (like a lot of other cities) is celebrating National Coming Out Day. The front page of the local section has a picture showing what vaguely appear to be same sex couples dancing, and of the master of ceremonies dancing around in a funny hat. A large headline in the center of the page proclaims "A block party full of pride" and there's a short writeup about Philly Pride's OutFest:

Philly Pride says its OutFest celebration has grown over the last 13 years into the lagest national Coming Out Day (officially, it's Wednesday) celebration in the world. Yesterday's event, on 12th and 13th Streets, between Walnut and Pine, featured outdoor cafes; more than 50 vendors and local merchants selling their wares; singing and dancing contests and demonstrations; local groups networking; and plenty more.

I mean, I happen to know, but not every Philadelphian does, and how would an ordinary reader know from reading the piece? What's all this "Pride" about?

And what's an "OutFest"? Why the mystery? Were I a conspiratorially-minded type, I might think it had something to do with not wanting the little people (you know, readers who skip to the sports page) to know what "National Coming Out Day" means. I figured I must have missed the main piece, so I entered "National Coming Out Day" on the Inky's search engine. Nothing came out up.

To be sure, Philly Pride has a nice web site, but the only mention of them or the Outfest was in a small paragraph at the bottom of a weekend events column in the magazine supplement to the Friday paper. I missed it and I missed the event, which is a shame because I was in Philadelphia yesterday and had I known, I might have gone.

Not that I care one way or another about National Coming Out Day, but it's certainly a big deal from the activists' standpoint, and has been for years. At the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), however, there's only a bare mention of it (in a link to the snapshots page) on the front page of the main website, which seems very, very odd. It's so subdued you'd miss it unless you scoured. I thought it would be a blazing headline, although I did find a page about last year's event. If you click on last year's "more," it takes you to this year's theme -- "HRC LAUNCHES RE-IMAGINED COMING OUT PROJECT AND 2005 THEME -- 'TALK ABOUT IT'."

(I'm sorry folks, but re-imagining last year's theme just doesn't sound terribly innovative. Why is it buried almost as an afterthought instead of being on the front page?)

There's a history of October 11 here, but this year's description was not easy to find.

Am I going crazy, or is "National Coming Out Day" being kept in the closet?

What gives? I thought "coming out" was the whole idea.

(There are plenty of local events, but you'd think there'd be more national interest.)