FRC Head: Calling Them a "Hate Group" Gave Shooter License to Attack

President of group that links homosexuality to pedophilia complains about "reckless rhetoric."

The head of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, today said the Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups gave "license" to a shooter who injured a security guard at the conservative religious policy and lobbying organization's headquarters on Wednesday.

In a news conference addressing the incident and the arrest of the alleged shooter, Floyd Corkins II, Perkins said: "Let me be clear that Floyd Corkins was responsible for firing the shots yesterday that wounded one of our colleagues … but Corkins was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labeling organizations 'hate groups' because they disagree with them on public policy."