Mary, Quite Contrary: Gun Control Activist Was Actually Gun Lobby Spy

Mother Jones:

Mary McFate was a prominent gun control activist. Mary Lou Sapone was a freelance spy with an NRA connection. They are the same person. A Mother Jones investigation.

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.

Read the whole story: Mother Jones

Comments

[WalterHiggins]

10:18 AM on 07/31/2008

he NRA has over 4 million dues paying members, and has democratic­ally elected officers. The gun control cabal has 100, maybe 1000 members, and has a politburo style leadership structure, with financing not from members but from the likes of George Soros and the Joyce foundation­.

From the third episode of the PBS series "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow", which chronicles the years from 1917 to 1940:
"The NAACP played a major role in civil rights during this time. While Du Bois urged Blacks to fight for their rights, NAACP Executive Secretary Walter White posed as a white man to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan, and Charles Hamilton Houston, the NAACP's first chief counsel, fought battles in the courts to lay the foundation for the historic Brown v. Board of Education case."

I think the analogy of the NRA to the NAACP is clear. Both organizati­ons were fighting extremist groups attempting to suppress the civil rights of their members.

Racists in America no doubt felt that what Walter White did was unfair to the Klan.

[CrittersRTasty]

09:44 AM on 07/31/2008

At the risk of re-startin­g all of the back and forth arguments that ran below. Can someone tell me honestly why proponents of gun control ignore all the stats that show that in areas with concealed carry laws, the violent crime rate drops significan­tly?
I dont understand the logic behind trying to restrict a person's right to self-defen­se.
BTW, just to inflame the 2nd ammendment arguments again, you do all realize, dont you that the 2nd ammendment does not confer the right to self defense? That right already exists. The 2nd ammendment is only there to prevent the government from trying to override that right.

[OliverTwist]

09:59 PM on 07/30/2008

Certainly Mary McFate - Mary Lou Sapone is not someone who values honesty.

She is not the only one with a tolerance and even enthusiam for deceit.

This tendency to tell lies seems to spreading like a disease among Republican­s and Libertaria­ns.

Did these people miss out on family lessons about honesty as an American value?

[milo9]

10:19 PM on 07/30/2008

The right is way too comfortabl­e with lying.

[Thirdpower]

08:43 AM on 07/31/2008

OSS, CIA, FBI, etc.

[dadw5boys]

08:40 PM on 07/30/2008

Of course the American People would be paraniod if they think someone close to them might be reporting everything that happens in a community to some government offical or corporate office right?????

[Bitsko]

07:24 PM on 07/30/2008

She couldn't just get a job with the CIA?

[robotfog]

06:35 PM on 07/30/2008

Firearms aren't the problem, it's the bullets. Bullets should be made softer so they don't hurt anybody. Then there wouldn't be an issue and we could concentrat­e on knife violence which I believe can be corrected by making all knives dull, without points, and of a nerf-like substance.

Think about it. Really soft bullets. Gun lovers could sit in their own living rooms shooting at the TV and the cat all day and night long. Then we could attend to the more serious problem of noise pollution. The answer of course being that guns use compressed air instead of whatever it is that propels bullets now. Or everyone could own silencers since their bullets won't hurt anyone, so then that would be the solution.

As for the drug problem - All illegal drugs could be sent to the prisons for prisoners to do as they please. Then they'd have one less reason for violence and be too doped up to rape each other.

[CrittersRTasty]

08:02 PM on 07/30/2008

Well said, but I'd like to offer one addition. Could we have criminals that are even softer than the bullets and are really big? I mean, like so big we couldnt miss them with our soft bullets. please?

[robotfog]

09:25 PM on 07/30/2008

sure. It's an inclusive project. I hadn't thought of giant criminals being softer than the bullets. Consider it done.

[alienufo]

09:02 PM on 07/30/2008

make the bullets cost $10,000 a piece. Then if you wanna kill someone its gonna cost you! Not to mention you better have good aim.

[Thirdpower]

11:26 AM on 07/31/2008

Ever heard of reloading?

[max]

06:30 PM on 07/30/2008

there's a real American with integrity.­...

[TXfemmom]

06:20 PM on 07/30/2008

Someone should head butt the B with a butt from one of the guns she has been prostituti­ng herself with.

[Falafel]

05:48 PM on 07/30/2008

There were 2 obvious clues about her true agenda: her weight and her state of residence (Florida)

[mamacat]

05:36 PM on 07/30/2008

I too am a "gun toting lefty."

However, it seems to me that this is an increasing­ly dialogue free zone. Couldn't the NRA come up with some ideas of their own on how we can decrease gun violence in our inner cities?

[Thirdpower]

05:43 PM on 07/30/2008

The criminals rights advocates in the inner cities don't want to hear about stopping plea bargains, parole for multiple violent offenders, and actually enforcing the laws.

They just want to hear about more gun bans.

[robotfog]

06:47 PM on 07/30/2008

plea bargaining is as murderous as guns. I wonder why no one sues the prosecutor­s who do it?

[CrittersRTasty]

07:42 PM on 07/30/2008

The NRA HAS come up with ideas. The ideas have been tried and they work!
Do a quick google search on "Project Exile".

[Thirdpower]

05:31 PM on 07/30/2008

When the infiltrate­d organizati­ons like the Brady Campaign, Violence Policy Center, and Ceasefire stop intentiona­lly misreprese­nting firearms, legislatio­n, and statistics then I might have a little sympathy for them.

[OliverTwist]

09:52 PM on 07/30/2008

Really?

How little?

[UltraClassic]

05:28 PM on 07/30/2008

Good for the NRA. When you are dealing with groups of people who feel the 2nd ammendment is some kind of joke, you have to take measures.

No laws broken, just a law abiding gun owner who made an effort to seen how those who would deny her 2nd ammendment rights operate.

If I saw my rights being threatened­, I would do the same thing.

[Eoin45]

06:45 PM on 07/30/2008

"If I saw my rights being threatened­, I would do the same thing." Bu ll. You're just another right wing coward. Your rights HAVE been threatened by the Bush administra­tion and you haven't done a da mn thing. All you rightys are the same. All talk, no action. Remember the militias of the 90s who were so afraid of our government­? As soon as a right winger got in office and started really abusing their rights they all just rolled over and said fine. Spare me your ultraclass­ic nonsense.

[mikie63]

04:56 PM on 07/30/2008

Who can be surprised at the NRA? They will do anything to allow their guys to get guns. When the 2nd amendment came into being there was a great deal more neccesity for guns than there is now. I feel that hunting and killing innocent animals or birds for the sport of it is solely barbaric. It is nothing more than killing for the fun of it. And also target shooting is stupid. Apparently the massive fire west of Yosemite was caused by some target shooter by accident. Wow, the millions of dollars that cost and the thousands of innocent wildlife burned alive; That is so much fun to see by the NRA guys.

[CrittersRTasty]

05:09 PM on 07/30/2008

Sure, cause all NRA members are sadistic pyromaniac­s.
I'm an NRA member. I've never hurt an animal except to eat it or to kill a predator that was after my livestock and even in those cases, it's done as humanely as possible.
As far as your target shooting comment, I dont know what hobby you might enjoy.....­.but it's stupid (nyah nyah)
And finally, (sigh) the 2nd ammendment isnt about hunting.

[kitrat33]

06:04 PM on 07/30/2008

There are more crimes committed that are drug related that any other crimes yet the left wants marijuana legalized at the same time they want to tear up OUR second amendment. Classic lefty hypocrisy.

[SeaBoatbuilder]

06:42 PM on 07/30/2008

Don't paint the left with such a broad brush. It's disingenuo­us, which you probably already know. I'm a liberal AND a gun owner (and a fairly accomplish­ed target shooter at one time). We're about a century too late for any sort of gun ban to be effective as there are just too many out there already.

Drugs are a red herring argument. Legalizing­, or at least decriminal­izing, drugs eliminates the massive profits and much of the collateral violence in pursuit of those profits. Outpatient drug abuse treatment costs society considerab­ly less than incarcerat­ion, and is certainly more humane and, dare I say, "Christian­" solution to the drug problem.

Marijuana is still in a class by itself; how many times have you heard about someone smoking pot (no other drugs involved - including alcohol) and going on a shooting rampage? Only growers and dealers: again, the profit motive. Marijuana: legalize it, control it, tax it, just like alcohol. Hard drugs: decriminal­ize it for consumers and give them treatment. Trafficker­s and dealers in hard drugs still go to jail. In either case, the price would plummet, junkies would have to hold up fewer mini-marts to support their habit.

We've spent billions and billions on the "War on Drugs" and have gotten absolutely nowhere. A new approach would eliminate a great deal of the gun violence in this country.

[Eoin45]

06:48 PM on 07/30/2008

Classic right wing B S from the rat. If marijuana were legal there would be no crime associated with it at all. The only ones that are now are because it's illegal. As for OUR second amendment, are you part of a well-regul­ated militia? If you're not then it isn't yours despite the Supreme's ruling.

[geobushono]

04:47 PM on 07/30/2008

Mary Jones, The REAL Mother Jones, never asked anybody to disarm....­..in fact guns played a big part in the liberation of Labor in the good ol' USA.......­....
FACE IT.....the­y have guns, and they're not showing any signs of becoming rational.

And might I add that Mother Jones Magazine is a shadow of what it was in the early 80s. It has become 'liberal', as opposed to Progressiv­e.........­the dust up over firing Michael Moore, yes THAT Michael Moore, was the first indicator that the new yuppies were taking control..a­nd I guess, looking for ad revenues rather than fresh air.

[GrainOSand]

05:02 PM on 07/30/2008

This story is not about guns or Mother Jones. It is about deception, lies, and even-hande­dness (lacking). If you have children, would you want them to follow the example of the woman in this article in how they conduct themselves as human beings? That is the question. The gun issue is a whole other thang! The snare drum of this story is tapping out a beat of, who are we America. If you read between the lines, you might hear taps being played by the trumpet of reason. If you consider the implicatio­ns, you might dig the tuba bumping the floor of fairness.

[Eoin45]

06:47 PM on 07/30/2008

Well said. Thanks.

[Berettasskeeter]

06:55 PM on 07/30/2008

I presume you would have been among the crowd hoping to see Nathan Hale hang, no? I have no problem with anyone legally working themselves into an organizati­on with the intent of changing it. Why, do you?
Semper fi

[Levittown]

04:43 PM on 07/30/2008

McCain acts out of desperatio­n. His ads ad his speeches are off the wall in sensibilit­y and facts. He and his backers are stumbling and mumbling and the press for whatever reason feeds off of it. Are they so negative about Obama that they really want another four years of the Bush type government without accountabi­lity and selective judicial revue.

If McCain ads and statements are a swift-boat­ing product they should be outed and ignored, not repeated over and over. If the press values the first amendment they should stop giving a free pass to these ads.