Front Sight, Press

THE MATA HARI OF FIREARMS….Isn’t "Mary McFate" a great name for a spy? I think so. So it’s only fitting that Mary McFate is, indeed, a spy. For the NRA. For the last decade, it turns out, she’s been busily infiltrating gun control groups until being outed by a team of reporters at Mother Jones:

Informed of McFate’s true identity, her friends and associates in the gun control community expressed shock and anger. "That astounds me," says Barbara Hohlt. Of McFate’s ability to maintain her cover, she adds, "She was very, very good. Everybody knew her for years and trusted her." Brian Malte, director of state legislation at the Brady Campaign, says, "Oh my…Of all the people." Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, remarks, "This is totally bizarre." And she adds, "I would find it hardest to believe this about her. She comes across as kind of dense — or she’s putting on a good act."
McFate’s (now former) colleagues note that she was well-positioned for many years to provide the NRA — or any other gun rights groups — the plans, secrets, and inside gossip of practically the entire gun violence prevention movement. "She had access to all the legislative strategy for every major issue for years," says Rand.

Fascinating, no? The Sierra Club better watch its back.

Source: CBS News

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

As McFate, the magazine reported, Sapone covertly infiltrated gun-control groups for more than a decade and received payment from private security firms and the NRA.

During that time, she inserted herself into some of the most important gun-control organizations in the country and was part of discussions on national strategy and policy…

…As evidence of Sapone’s role, the magazine cited a 2003 deposition by Tim Ward, former president of the Maryland-based security firm Beckett Brown International. Ward testified that he hired Sapone to gather intelligence for the NRA, according to the article….

…The Freedom States Alliance, a coalition of nine gun-control organizations from New England to Minnesota, decided not to wait to hear from McFate; the group threw her off its board yesterday by conference call.

"She was in the room for discussions about what legislative goals would be set, what the strategy would be to pursue those goals, and was, it appears, being paid to share that information with the gun lobby," said Freedom States Alliance board member Angus McQuilken. "It is shameful."…

…But the overriding emotion yesterday seemed to be not outrage but befuddlement at how McFate, seemingly one of the more militant members of the movement, could have pulled it off - and why.

"She must be very good at what she does, because a whole bunch of very smart people were completely hoodwinked by this," said Diane Edbril, CeaseFire PA’s executive director between 2004 and 2007.

Edbril hosted McFate at her Radnor home in July 2007, when McFate flew up from her home in Sarasota to attend a CeaseFire PA board meeting.

"She was in my guest room. Was she looking through stuff in my house?" Edbril was asking herself yesterday.

Ona Hamilton, whose local Million Mom March group evolved into CeaseFire PA in 2002, asked McFate to be on CeaseFire PA’s first board. McFate at the time was a board member for Pennsylvanians Against Handgun Violence. Hamilton said McFate would rail against her fellow board members in that organization for being too soft on the NRA, Hamilton said.

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

The gun grabbers are all torqued-out about this. Every one of their organizations has published angry press releases about "the mole" and the big, evil NRA. I think it’s kind of funny. Now they’re looking over their shoulders with an intramural paranoia that make Stalin smile.

And what is the basis for this “scoop” by Mother Jones?

The allegations against McFate stem from a lawsuit brought against officials with Beckett Brown International, a now-defunct security firm based in Maryland. A former beer distributor who bankrolled the firm accused them of defrauding him.

Boxes of documents filed in the dispute reveal that McFate worked as a subcontractor for Beckett Brown and that the firm’s clients included the NRA. And they show that McFate billed the firm for unspecified intelligence-gathering services, submitting among other things a request for a $4,500-a-month retainer in 1999.

The documents also reveal that McFate — that is her maiden name; her married name is Mary Lou Sapone — tried to get daughter-in-law Montgomery Sapone hired by Beckett Brown. Montgomery Sapone worked as an intern at Brady Campaign headquarters in 2003, the gun-control group said.

John Dodd III, the Maryland beer distributor who bankrolled Beckett Brown, told the AP that he did not condone the infiltration of activist groups.

Source: Yahoo News

Funny, but I don’t see any direct involvement by the NRA in this whole thing. Is it possible, however unthinkable, that the gun grabbers are creating a issue out of thin air to discredit the NRA, an issue which may have no real basis in fact? Oh no, they’d never stoop that low. They’re too honest and ethical for that.

See also: Spies Like Us