diff -r 03df2c1c6892 Lib/logging/__init__.py
--- a/Lib/logging/__init__.py	Thu Apr 03 10:31:25 2014 -0400
+++ b/Lib/logging/__init__.py	Thu Apr 03 13:16:04 2014 -0700
@@ -622,16 +622,20 @@
     Remove a handler reference from the internal cleanup list.
     """
     # This function can be called during module teardown, when globals are
-    # set to None. If _acquireLock is None, assume this is the case and do
-    # nothing.
-    if (_acquireLock is not None and _handlerList is not None and
-        _releaseLock is not None):
-        _acquireLock()
+    # set to None. It can also be called from another thread. So we need to
+    # pre-emptively grab the necessary globals and check if they're None,
+    # to prevent race conditions and failures during interpreter shutdown.
+    acquireLock = _acquireLock
+    releaseLock = _releaseLock
+    handlerList = _handlerList
+    if (acquireLock is not None and handlerList is not None and
+        releaseLock is not None):
+        acquireLock()
         try:
-            if wr in _handlerList:
-                _handlerList.remove(wr)
+            if wr in handlerList:
+                handlerList.remove(wr)
         finally:
-            _releaseLock()
+            releaseLock()
 
 def _addHandlerRef(handler):
     """