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Maine gun group sues Million Mom March
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Maine gun group sues Million Mom MarchA group of machine-gun enthusiasts who celebrate the weapon with a gun shoot and expo in Maine every year has filed a lawsuit against the Million Mom March, accusing a spokeswoman of defamation.The Hiram Maxim Historical Society Inc., named after the Mainer who invented the machine gun in 1883, claims in its lawsuit that Cathie Whittenburg of the Southern Maine Chapter of the Million Mom March made false statements that harmed the society.The society's lawyer, Walter F. McKee, said Tuesday that his client is a law-abiding organization that Whittenburg "essentially called a bunch of terrorists."Not so, said Whittenburg: "All I can say is that I am flabbergasted and dumbfounded and I am not prepared to talk to the press at this time." But she added, "I guarantee the allegations against me are false."The dispute goes back to July, when the society was holding its annual extravaganza. Whittenburg was quoted in a July 21 Bangor Daily News story as saying that she had planned to protest the event, but decided not to after receiving an obscenity-laced e-mail.The story said that "the message was not a threat against her life, she said, but it was serious enough to have local Million Moms change their plans about protesting in Dover-Foxcroft. The hate mail's sender is connected with the machine-gun event, the e-mail said."The same newspaper article para- phrased the machine-gun society's president as saying that "whoever sent the message was acting on his own, not with the authority of the HMHS."According to the lawsuit, filed in Kennebec County Superior Court last week, "Ms. Whittenburg stated that because of the e-mail, she did not feel safe protesting in Dover-Foxcroft," that the statements she made "were made either negligently or with the knowledge of their falsity or in reckless disregard of the truth," and that the statements were "allegations of serious criminal conduct or were allegations that would adversely affect plaintiff's fitness for the proper conduct of a business, trade or profession. Plaintiff has suffered special harm as a result of Ms. Whittenburg's statements."McKee said he wants to see the e-mail, which he said was not sent by anyone associated with his client."We didn't do this," he said. "We want people to know that."He said the lawsuit is not an effort to silence opponents. "This suit shouldn't cause a chilling effect, because if people are going to speak the truth, they aren't going to be sued," he said.The Million Mom March has faced other challenges in other states.The Second Amendment Found- ation, a Bellevue, Wash.-based organization focused on the right to privately own and possess firearms, asked the attorney general of California to investigate why the Million Mom March received free office space at San Francisco General Hospital through the Trauma Found- ation.Nancy Hwa, a spokeswoman for the Brady Campaign and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said she was not aware of the Maine lawsuit, but that "it wouldn't be the first time that somebody from our side has been threatened. We get threatening mail all the time." Staff Writer Joshua Weinstein can be contacted at 791-6368 or at: jweinstein@pressherald.com
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