The Perp.
Posted on 05/31/2007 5:54:00 AM PDT by SJackson
(CNSNews.com) - A gun rights advocate wants the Justice Department to investigate a Catholic priest who during a weekend anti-gun rally threatened to "snuff out" a Chicago gun store owner.
As Cybercast News Service reported earlier, Rev. Michael Pfleger said Saturday in comments aimed at Chuck's Gun Shop owner John Riggio, "we're going to find out and snuff you out."
Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina's Church in Chicago, told the crowd "we're going to snuff out John Riggio, we're going to snuff out legislators that are voting ... against our gun laws and we're coming for you because we are not going to sit idly."
To "snuff" can mean to sniff, inhale, or extinguish. It is also commonly used as a slang term for "to kill."
Pfleger made the comments during an anti-gun rally sponsored by Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Pfleger and his church are active in anti-gun and anti-gang efforts in Chicago.
In a letter to Assistant U.S. Attorney General Wan Kim obtained by Cybercast News Service, Second Amendment Foundation President Alan Gottlieb requested an investigation of the threat and defended Riggio's character.
"Mr. Riggio is the operator of a legal business that operates under both Illinois state law and federal statute," he wrote. "He has harmed nobody to my knowledge, and yet he has been repeatedly subjected to harassment, character assassination and now, what appears to be a threat of bodily harm."
Gottlieb said he viewed Pfleger's comments as "a serious threat to Mr. Riggio's safety and civil rights" and urged Kim to investigate.
Vince Clark, a spokesman for Pfleger, told Cybercast News Service Wednesday that the pastor wasn't aware of the violent connotation of "snuff" and didn't mean to threaten bodily harm. (Listen to Pfleger's comments)
"I've never heard that compared before with the word murder," Clark said. "He [Pfleger] was never aware of that. If that was the case he would never have used that language."
Clark said Pfleger's use of the word "was meaning 'to expose' but to do no bodily harm." He said the backlash from gun rights advocates is "uncalled for, but they're going to take the angle that they desire."
Cynthia Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, said it was unlikely that anyone at the DOJ had received the letter yet.
Representatives for the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday and Wednesday.
Riggio told Cybercast News Service Wednesday that he was "surprised" when he heard Pfleger's comment, and took them as "definitely a threat."
"Some words can mean a whole bunch of different stuff," he said. "That word, I think if you polled 100 people I think 99, maybe 100 ... would come out with the same definition."
Riggio said there was little excuse for Pfleger to make a verbal mistake. "He's a professional speaker along with Jackson," he said. "I would have suspected that the person that might have made a boo-boo talking would have been me. I'm in retail. These guys do that for a living."
Riggio said he is consulting with a lawyer to determine whether to take any actions against Pfleger or Jackson. In the meantime, he said, "I'm busy here. I've got a wife and three kids. I've got a business to run."
James Accurso, a spokesman for the Chicago Archdiocese, said he was not aware of the rally or Pfleger's participation in it until after it took place Saturday.
He told Cybercast News Service that the church had no plans to take disciplinary action against Pfleger.
"If the reports are accurate and he did make a threat - and we're not certain of that - we feel this should be handled by the civil authorities," Accurso said.
Scratch an antigunner, find a terrorist.
Aside from that, what a vile and disgusting man this "priest" is. There is a special reward for men of the cloth who lead people astray.
In some states the criminal code refers to what the Pfleger said as “felony menacing”.
I’m pretty sure Pfleger is a race-mongering white guy.
"I've never heard that compared before with the word murder," Clark said. "He [Pfleger] was never aware of that. If that was the case he would never have used that language."
Did the local TV news accompany these quotes with a laugh track and rimshots?
I understand. I wonder if it would be OK to encourage gun owners to "whack" Pfleger... because he deserves a spanking, ya know?
My BS meter is pegged.
"snuff out"? means to expose? Puleeeeaaaasse
He used exactly the words and meanings that are normally associated with the meaning that the gun store owner thinks about when he hears them.
This guy is just hoping that some wacko will do the job for him thinking that he'll get, or already has, dispensation from a priest for the act.
That can certainly be regarded as a threat. Not that I seriously believe it will be in Chicago. Can you imagine the uproar if a conservative made the same comment about a liberal?
That has to go down as one of the biggest bald-faced lies in history, almost in the "I did not have sex with that woman" class.
The Perp.
So, I take it to mean that Rev. Pfleger and Clark would not mind if a bunch of people paraded in front of the church with signs saying, “Snuff out Pfleger and Clark!” since none of us EVER heard this term used to mean “murder.”
You mean if a white guy acts like Al Sharpton he is protected by the race card? Hmmm.
Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina's Church, exhorted the crowd to "drag" shop owner, John Riggio, from his shop "like a rat" and "snuff" him.
This is what they are using as an alibi, Clark said Pfleger's use of the word "was meaning 'to expose' but to do no bodily harm."
Sorry it does not make any logical sense that they meant to expose when he said the crowd should drag him out like a rat and snuff him.
Pfleger is an embarrasment to the Chicago Archdiocese. Usually just ignoring him results in long stretches of time in which he’s not heard from. Anyone who can praise Lewis Farrakhan with a straight face needs his spiritual credentials re-examined.
I think he means anything Al Sharpton says, no matter how absurd, is protected by the race card.
If the priest really said this, he should be kicked out fo the priesthood - pronto. And that should be the very least that happens to him.
They're usually promoted to bishop.
Apparently the Chicago Archdiocese does NOT agree with you
James Accurso, a spokesman for the Chicago Archdiocese ... told Cybercast News Service that the church had no plans to take disciplinary action against Pfleger.In fact he's just saying what most of them think but are too diplomatic to say.
He told Cybercast News Service that the church had no plans to take disciplinary action against Pfleger.”
This isn’t a church, it’s a joke. No honest church would allow one of it’s representatives threaten bodily harm to anyone for any reason. As far as I am concerned the Chicago Archdiocese is a terrorist organization.
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