There's Something About Mary: Unmasking a Gun Lobby Mole

[Joanne98]

This is the story of two Marys. Both are in their early 60s, heavyset, with curly reddish hair. But for years they have worked on opposite ends of the same issues. Mary McFate is an advocate of environmental causes and a prominent activist within the gun control movement. For more than a decade, she volunteered for various gun violence prevention organizations, serving on the boards of anti-gun outfits, helping state groups coordinate their activities, lobbying in Washington for gun control legislation, and regularly attending strategy and organizing meetings.

Mary Lou Sapone, by contrast, is a self-described "research consultant," who for decades has covertly infiltrated citizens groups for private security firms hired by corporations that are targeted by activist campaigns. For some time, Sapone also worked for the National Rifle Association.

But these two Marys share a lot in common—a Mother Jones investigation has found that McFate and Sapone are, in fact, the same person. And this discovery has caused the leaders of gun violence prevention organizations to conclude that for years they have been penetrated—at the highest levels—by the NRA or other pro-gun parties. "It raises the question," says Paul Helmke, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, "of what did she find out and what did they want her to find out."

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/mary-mcfate-sapone-gun-lobby-nra-spy.html

[jody]

1. If the article is true, ROFLMAO. The bottom line is SCOTUS said the gun-control group was wrong and

said in D.C. v. Heller, "The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia . . ."

[bemildred]

3. The USSC, the majority anyway, cares only for political expediency.

It's been that way for some time now.

[jody]

5. Suggest you read the Heller decision. Stevens and Breyer recognized RKBA but argued the 2nd

did not protect an individual right.

Conspicuous from their dissent is if the 2nd does not protect an individual right as an enumerated right, then that right is protected as an un-enumerated right covered by the 9th Amendment.

All justices recognized that PA said:

A DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OR STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA 28 Sept. 1776
"That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and inalienable rights, amongst which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."
And
"That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the state; and as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; And that the military should be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power."

VT (1777) copied PA's constitution.

See Heller at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf

[Joanne98]

4. Actually, I'm against gun control. I thought it was a stupid idea.

I totally against dis-arming the citizens. The federal government is too dangerous, especially since they keep promoting a police state. But I think it's interesting that they got infiltrated. I wonder who else is.

[derby378]

2. I work under the assumption that both sides of the aisle spy on each other all the time

Even in a post-Heller legal environment, the stakes are still pretty high, especially in light of Dick Heller's new lawsuit to strike down DC's newly-instituted handgun ban.

I do not infiltrate gun-control organizations, but I do like to keep tabs on what they're planning and what their strategies are. As someone who established a site for pro-gun Democrats, it's part of my gig.

If Mother Jones wants to discuss the ethics of spying, that's one thing, but I am fairly certain that the Brady Campaign and the NRA have been obeying the adage "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" for a long time.