The man who opened fired at the D.C. offices of the Family Research Council this morning has been identified as 28-year-old Floyd Lee Corkins II of Herndon, Virginia.
His motive remains unclear, though it’s alleged Corkins—who wounded security guard Leo Johnson—said “Don’t shoot me, it was not about you, it was what this place stands for,” before being tackled by guards.
If the reports surrounding this incident are true, it brings together several political hot-button issues into one bizarre and violent incident: gun control, Chick-fil-A, gay marriage, and a new twist on America’s culture wars.
Or it could just be an insane person too demented to have what one could call a coherent political ideology, as was the case with the Sikh temple shooter Wade Michael Page, whose only ideology was hate. Ironically, the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated FRC as a hate group because of its fervent anti-gay stance.
There have also been reports Corkins was carrying a bag from Chick-fil-A when he opened fire. We can just see this leading to his lawyers pioneering the chicken-sandwich defense.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Kev C
Attention America: the gays are coming to shoot you. That is all.
frenchjr25
Hate is an ideology, same as fighting against hate. We need to stop saying that all shooters are insane. This man knew exactly what he was doing. He targeted a hate group just like hate groups target medical clinics and Planned Parenthood. Where what he did was horrible, there are millions of people in the US who share his anger towards hate groups.
This shooting and the temple shooting have nothing in common with the movie theater shooting. That man is insane but these two shootings have a basis in hatred. One a hatred towards a religion and the other an attempt to fight back against a hate group.
Chick Fil hAte
Amazing what God’s gentle servant, Dan Cathy, started with all of his rhetoric. When will it end?
Jack
FRC brought it on themselves. I don’t condone the shooter’s actions, but it was only a matter of time with the venom they spit.
Woody
Next thing we’ll probably see is the westboro baptist cult center being bombed. But, isn’t martyrdom what they want and expect? Hallylooya Jeebus!
Andreusz
@Jack: By saying they ‘brought it on themselves’ you
are condoning the shooter’s actions.
Analog
Nutter with a gun shoots someone like a crazy man shock.
Erick
Love it! This plays right into the conservative rights hands. That he was carrying a bag from Chick-Fil-A makes it even better. The gays have gone too far. This is nice amo for Romney/Ryan to pounce on, and I hope they use it.
Analog
@Erick: “The gays have gone too far”
Last I checked it was a lone nutter with a gun.
” This plays right into the conservative rights hands.”
Yeah, the conservative right just love to talk about gun control.
“This is nice amo for Romney/Ryan to pounce on, and I hope they use it.”
Me too. I hope they really run on the issue of nutters with guns.
That’ll pay off.
Can’t fault your logic!
TomMc
@Erick: The gays have gone too far.
Indeed. As have the Neuroscientists (cf. the Dark Knight shooting).
B.BarNavi
And with a single bullet, he has sent the LGBT cause back centuries. This gives license to the homophobes to stamp out equality and start to make LGBT Americans second-class citizens again, on the pretense that the LGBT movement has become too radical and violent. If this guy was a top before, he won’t be for long.
Billysees
@Jack: Re 4
They did bring this on themselves.
Wasn’t it the FRC who, very strangely, gave an award of some kind to some hateful preacher a while back?
See — http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/15/family-research-council-s-award-to-anti-gay-pastor-ron-baity-rewards-hate-speech.html.
How can they complain about “hateful rhetoric” after doing something like this?
B
No. 11 · B.BarNavi wrote, “And with a single bullet, he has sent the LGBT cause back centuries.”
Why? Let’s blame Ronald Reagan who let all the loonies out of the asylums to cut costs.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_were_asylums_closed_in_the_US