[oldembed width="420" height="356" src="https://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" flashvars="videoId=1786826643001&playerID=180211731001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAGuN0bcE~,rS1wzGXkRNnKZBuQ4FRjFM7e28yVdmek&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" resize="1" fid="22"]
There was a shooting this morning at the Family Research Council building in Washington, DC. Details are sketchy, but it appears that a lone gunman shot a security guard and one other person.
Via ABC7:
A security guard at a conservative Christian lobbying group housed in a busy downtown Washington office building was shot and injured late Wednesday morning, police say.
The shooting took place either near or at the offices of the Family Research Council, which is located at 801 G Street, about a block west of the Verizon Center.
The guard, who was shot in the arm, was conscious and breathing after the incident. A suspect, who ABC 7's Jennifer Donelan reports was led out of the building in handcuffs, is in custody.
In a statement posted to their website, FRC President Tony Perkins said one of the victims worked with the organization.
Just like other recent shootings, this is reprehensible. It shouldn't matter whether it's a church, people in a movie theater, or employees at work in a conservative Christian organization. It's simply wrong, but once again we are still not talking about guns and gun violence and whether some reasonable controls on those guns are in order.
However, with that said, there are already some particularly odious things being said. Here's one from Bryan Fischer that really is disgusting:
If SPLC is right, that using irresponsible language re: homosexuality causes violence, then they to blame for FRC shooting.
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) August 15, 2012
Via Life News, we have this Fox News quote, which strikes me as premature:
According to a Fox News report: “A suspect walked in and started yelling about things they (FRC) supported & opened fire.”
Until there is some kind of statement by the FBI about who this shooter is, I think it's enough to say that walking into anyone's workplace and shooting people is just simply wrong. It's wrong today, it's wrong yesterday, and it will be wrong tomorrow. We don't need to ramp up speculation and hateful rhetoric to know that.
Update: And here's the Fox News report, which was published after the Life News report. Interesting little circle they've got going there:
A security guard at the Family Research Council headquarters in Washington, D.C., was shot in the arm by a gunman who sources said expressed disagreement with the conservative group's policy positions.
Update 2: Here's Megyn Kelly reporting on it, leading off the 2:00 hour with the news. Fox is very, very anxious to scapegoat the SPLC for this shooting, based on some unsourced statements that the shooter was unhappy with the policies of the FRC. Expect this to be their theme of the day, despite the angry protestations of premature finger-pointing in other shootings. I say again: shootings are evil no matter what the reason. The security guard probably saved a lot of lives, and props to him for that. But leave it to Fox News to try and point the finger anyway.
Update 3: There are some reports from right wing sources like Fox News and NewsMax that the shooter had a Chick-Fil-A bag and was angry about the whole flap over it. NBC seems to be confirming. I'll just leave it there, and let you weigh the value of that report.
Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin is hard at work making the SPLC the Scapegoat of the Year, while suffering convenient amnesia at her rage-filled reactions to previous shootings:
When prior shootings happened, Malkin took to the airwaves to denounce “blame righty” syndrome, because it is unfair to politicize inexplicably terrible tragedies.
And still, it seems we cannot have a conversation about why people have access to guns when they need access to mental health services.
