NRA's Deadly Agenda Is Out (paranoid NRA spies video Brady Campaign event)

[jpak]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-helmke/nra-didnt-have-to-spy-the_b_858667.html

In yet another sign of how out of touch it is with how people interact in a civilized society, the National Rifle Association is apparently so wrapped up in its paranoid view of the world that it planted an undercover cameraman at our news conference at the National Press Club on Wednesday when the Brady Campaign released its annual Scorecard of State gun laws that can help reduce gun violence.

This is not the first outrageous NRA attempt to spy on us when they've been worried that our information might dampen support for its pro-gun agenda.

A few years ago, the corporate spy Mary McFate, also known as Mary Lou Sapone, tried to campaign and then talk her way onto the Brady Board. She failed to get nominated or elected to a board seat. McFate was later outed in 2008 by Mother Jones magazine as an NRA mole who spent a decade starting in the late 1990s infiltrating various national gun violence prevention groups.

On Wednesday, when the undercover NRA cameraman came to our news event, he lied and said he represented CBS. He claimed his name was Julio Luzquinos, but we cannot verify it. The phone number he listed is a non-working number and a D.C. assignment editor for CBS News said it doesn't have anyone by that name working for it.

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[ThatPoetGuy]

1. I'm curious what our pro-NRA posters think of Mary McFate

one of the most egregious examples of dirty politics, sleaze, and deceit in the post-Watergate era.

Paid for by NRA dues.

[PavePusher]

6. Why should they not "spy" on an organisation who's stated goal is to undermine the Constitution?

Was the Brady org doing anything non-public? Were they involved in classified government ops? Are they a non-profit supposed to be transparent to the public?

[madrchsod]

2. why am i not surprised....

i fail to understand why the nra are so afraid of the brady folks. the nra has more money , members, and political clout yet they are afraid of the brady folks.

[Oneka]

3. A cameraman

At a news conference.!!!!
OMG!!! What deadly agenda will the evil NRA think up next ??

[TPaine7]

5. It is ridiculous, isn't it...

Spying on a news conference.

This changes everything; I now see just how dangerous those gun fanatics are! Some of them probably visit the Brady Campaign site to spy on them there!!!

(I confess, I've done that heinous deed myself. *hangs head*)

[Oneka]

7. Very deadly!!

We should limit these camera exposures and espionage activities with common sense legislation, that seeks to protect our liberties, and freedoms.

[rl6214]

4. Keep your friends close and your enemas closer...

nothing paranoid about that.

[iverglas]

8. pointless dishonesty

On Wednesday, when the undercover NRA cameraman came to our news event, he lied and said he represented CBS. He claimed his name was Julio Luzquinos, but we cannot verify it. The phone number he listed is a non-working number and a D.C. assignment editor for CBS News said it doesn't have anyone by that name working for it.

One just wonders why, given the oh so legitimate nature of his mission, he did those things.

Funny how it's the gun militants and the anti-choice brigade who make their names doing this stuff.

Must be a case of stopped clocks again. Just a great big giant coincidence.

[TPaine7]

10. Only if "one" is naive enough to trust the Brady Campaign.

If so, "one" is quite ignorant or under the influence of the gun control reality distortion field.

(Or, of course, "one" could be the incarnation of the distortion field--trying to mislead the gullible.)

[iverglas]

12. eh?

Trust the Brady Campaign? With what, one's firstborn child?

Journalists identify themselves.

Actually, that's a principle that I imagine genuine journalists are rather firmly committed to upholding: their identity as journalists is what they rely on for protection in difficult situations, and they claim that protection in the public interest.

I don't think genuine journalists would take too kindly to a combattant identifying themself as a journalist, any more than a Red Cross or other NGO rep would to a combattant identifying themself as one of them. Claiming protection one is not entitled to, and that others depend on for their lives, is disgusting and cowardly.

This individual attended an event that was open to the media, not the general public, if I guess correctly. That's what press conferences generally are. It's entirely understandable that people who hold press conferences on contentious issues would check and record the identities of those attending. Gaining access to such an event under false pretences is a breach of civility. Given that the pretence is likely to be discovered by the targets, it is not unreasonable to consider the act of gaining that access anonymously as an intentionally intimidating act.

I wonder whether he'd like to try that little trick at the next presidential press conference.

One is free to pretend to have any paranoid fantasies about the Brady Campaign one likes.

To defend this individual's abhorrent behaviour ... well hey, one is free to do that too, isn't one?

[iverglas]

14. nothing at all to say?

Huh.

[DissedByBush]

9. They're just there to document your lies

It's not like you can even send out a press release without lying.

[Oneka]

11. hmm

Maybe Julio misrepresented himself as a CBS cameraman due to fears of being closeted? http://thoughtcatalog.com/2011/newspaper-reporter-sequestered-in-closet-by-biden-staff/
The closets at the National Press Club may not have been so spacious.

[benEzra]

13. From what I understand, fully one third of the audience was covertly representing the NRA...

1 out of 3 (yes, 3) people in attendance. And the only camera, it appears...

I don't think the guy should have misrepresented himself (and of course we know the Brady Campaign would never show up at a gun show without identifying themselves as such :eyes:) but I think framing it as "spying" at a press conference is probably stretching it a bit...