By now you’ve heard that there was a shooting at the Family Research Council’s offices in Washington, DC. An armed man, posing as an intern and carry a Chick-fil-A bag, walked into the lobby of the headquarters of the FRC and shot the security guard in the arm.

The Associated Press indicting reaction to the shooting:

It wasn’t immediately known whether the confrontation was related to the work of the Family Research Council, which strongly opposes gay marriage and abortion.

 Later in the same article the following characterization of the FRC is found:

The Family Research Council advocates conservative positions on social issues and strongly opposes gay marriage and abortion.

Perkins was an outspoken defender of Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy’s public stand against same-sex marriage, which made the fast-food chain a flashpoint in the nation’s culture wars. The Cathy family foundation has funded the Family Research Council.

Where did the shooter get the idea to take out a few people at the FRC headquarters, maybe even Tony Perkins himself?

The Southern Poverty Law Center has a “hit list” (metaphorically speaking) of conservative organizations that they label “hate groups.” One of those groups is the Family Research Council (FRC), a Christian lobbying organization that is very upfront about its beliefs, holds the Voters Values Summit conference every year, and lobbies for conservative causes. Was the shooter “incited” by the “hate group” charge?

The FRC has been operating since 1983. Perkins is the president. I’ve met Tony. There isn’t an ounce of hate in him. He takes stands against abortion-on-demand and homosexual marriage as millions of other Americans do. In fact, every time there’s a vote on whether homosexual marriage should be legalized at the state level, 32 times states have said no. Even liberal California voted down homosexual marriage.

None of this has stopped the Southern Poverty Law Center from declaring the FRC and other conservative and Christian policy advocacy organizations as “hate groups.” Even after the shooting, the folks at the Huffington Post couldn’t help from using the “hate group” charge attributed to it by the SPLC and linking newly nominated VP GOP pick Paul Ryan with it:

“One would think that such groups would take a moment to reflect on praising a choice like Ryan when extreme right-wing groups like the Concerned Women for America, Faith and Freedom Coalition, and the Family Research Council are also lauding Ryan’s hyperconservatism on social issues.

“And in a sign that Paul Ryan has no qualms about flexing his anti-gay muscles during the campaign to those extreme groups, he has agreed to address the Family Research Council, which the Southern Poverty Law Center deems a hate group, at the organization’s annual Value Voters Summit in September.”

You may recall that liberals — mostly pro-abortion and pro-homosexual groups — attribute acts of violence against them to anti-abortion and anti-homosexual rhetoric. Well, here’s an example of liberal rhetoric that might have contributed to a possible tragedy.

Can anyone say “hate crime”? And what about going after the Southern Poverty Law Center for “inciting” this man to violence?