Gun-control groups fear top activist was NRA spy

AP via SFGate ^ | 8/5/8 | MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer

[SmithL]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A gun-control activist who championed the cause for more than a decade and served on the boards of two anti-violence groups is suspected of working as a paid spy for the National Rifle Association, and now those organizations are expelling her and sweeping their offices for bugs.

The suggestion that Mary Lou McFate was a double agent is contained in a deposition filed as part of a contract dispute involving a security firm. The muckraking magazine Mother Jones, in a story last week, was the first to report on McFate's alleged dual identity.

The NRA refused to comment to the magazine and did not respond to calls ... Nor did McFate.

[wastedyears]

She won’t be given the benefit of a trial.

[supercat]

What, pray tell, is an “NRA spy”? Were these antigunners doing something so secretive that they didn’t want their methods and motives made public?

Exactly. If a mole were altering or destroying property or information, or smuggling out security codes to allow others to do so, that would clearly be unethical and almost certainly illegal. It's also possible that a group which is investigating a theory that may or may not be true might not want to have be associated with the theory until they confirm its veracity. But what else would an honest organization want to keep secret?

Further, correct me if I'm wrong, but as a non-profit corporation the NRA has meetings that are open to the public (at worst, access could be had for $35). Doesn't seem like a secret society to me.

[Turbopilot]

"In the battle of ideas with the gun lobby, we're at a constant disadvantage because we're honest."

Mods, please move this article to the "Humor" section.

[Jonah Hex]

Mods, please move this article to the "Humor" section.

"Humor", hell, move it to "Outright Fantasy".

[Steve Van Doorn]

Maybe we should start the DNC witch hunt section.

[grey_whiskers]

Oh! She's a whistleblower, a champion serving her conscience!

Cheers!

[American Infidel]

Boxes of documents filed in the dispute reveal that McFate worked as a subcontractor for Beckett Brown and that the firm's clients included the NRA. And they show that McFate billed the firm for unspecified intelligence-gathering services, submitting among other things a request for a $4,500-a-month retainer in 1999.

So this whole story is predicated on the SUSPICION that this person may have had some connection to the NRA, because she billed a firm whose clients included the NRA. What tools these gungrabbers (and the media) are. This is all they have? A tenuous connection at best.