Earlier today Breitbart News reported that a gunman had entered the Family Research Council’s DC headquarters and shot a security guard before he was disarmed and arrested. We waited for additional facts regarding the shooting to come to light before speculating on motive. Now various reports state that the suspect, 28 year-old Floyd Corkins II, shouted disagreements with FRC’s Christian stance on same sex marriage before opening fire. He reportedly carried with him a Chick-Fil-A bag and other restaurant paraphernalia, and posed as an intern to gain access to the FRC.
The AP reported that Corkins was a volunteer at a LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) center:
David Mariner is executive director of The DC Center for the LGBT Community. He says Corkins had been volunteering at the center for about the past 6 months. Mariner describes Corkins as “kind, gentle and unassuming.”
The reports of Corkins shouting disagreement with FRC before opening fire explains why authorities felt the need to assemble a joint task force and bring in the FBI to investigate. By progressive definitions, you could argue it was a “hate crime.”
It’s easy to brush aside this incident as one act of a crazy man until you consider the past two weeks. The Family Research Council is affiliated with Chick-Fil-A. Chick-Fil-A came under fire due to the free speech of CEO Dan Cathy by militant anti-Christian and anti-free speech activists. They further attacked Chick-Fil-A, accusing them of supporting Ugandan gay-killing via a resolution they claimed the FRC had lobbied to kill.
Their claims were wholly inaccurate and debunked here. The FRC lobbied to change the language of the resolution, they did not oppose the resolution. Anti-Christian activists, under the guise of gay rights, ignored the truth and concocted a smear claiming that FRC lobbied to support the death of gays in Uganda. (It’s ironic, considering the majority of these same anti-Christian activists voted for the administration who endorsed a group, the Muslim Brotherhood, which does rule that gays are to be killed via capital punishment simply for being gay.)
As a result we saw the vandalism of various Chick-Fil-A restaurants, city governments promising to ban the business from their areas, bomb threats, and abuse of the company’s employees. Vicious anti-religion bloggers perpetuated the falsehood regarding FRC and the Uganda resolution in an effort to incite further anger towards Chick-Fil-A. It’s a culture of hate, not disagreement, for people who are already ruled by emotion over logic.
Corkins alone pulled the trigger, but for two weeks many people did rotten things out of bigotry towards the faith of FRC and Cathy. What was Corkins’ motive?
Religion is under attack in the United States, but until now, it wasn’t meant literally.
Republican Presidential challenger Mitt Romney issued a statement on the shooting, saying “I am appalled by the shooting today at the offices of the Family Research Council in our nation’s capital. There is no place for such violence in our society. My prayers go out to the wounded security guard and his family, as well as all the people at the Family Research Council whose sense of security has been shattered by today’s horrific events.” President Obama relayed a message through Jay Carney about concern for the victim and agreeing with Romney that violence has no place in our society.
A number of LGBT organizations released a joint statement condemning the shooting. I’ve been unable to find similar statements from these organizations on the crimes against the above-referenced Chick-Fil-A vandalisms. In fact, have these organizations ever condemned some of the vile persecution of gay conservative groups? Or is it all about party?
Where was the joint statement of condemnation from these groups on the Obama administration endorsement of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood? Where was their joint statement of condemnation when Obama treated the rigged Iranian elections as legitimate and engaged the Islamic theocracy which rules the country? Gays are executed simply for being gay under the laws of these governments–where is the condemnation? Is it just about “party” or is it truly about principle for these organizations?
This tragedy today didn’t have to occur, but it did. People on the left need to come up with better ways to disagree with others besides this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.