I actually disagree with this to a large extent. As I said in an email conversation about this topic yesterday:

“She just asked to be on mailing lists, and they would add her. If you look at the story, it’s got a section on this:

…they knew virtually nothing about her life outside the movement. She never explained the source of her personal wealth. And Toby Hoover, the executive director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence and an activist who worked with McFate since the mid-1990s, says, “She never talked about what she had done prior to this work. I didn’t even know if she had a husband or kids.” Ceasefire New Jersey’s Bryan Miller adds, “She doesn’t talk about her family. I know nothing about her personal life other than that she lives in Sarasota, Florida. For my closest friends in this movement, who also know Mary, it was a matter of low-level discussion that we didn’t know anything about her.”

So it looks like their willingness to accept any warm body, especially one that fit a demographic they want to reach, paved the way for her to stroll in.”

If any advantage was to be had from a mole in the organization, it would be “advance info” on legislative attempts, lobbying attempts, and public-relations pushes.

Whatever was actually happening, it was underhanded and dishonest for the woman to pass herself off under another name. However, I wouldn’t charge guilt upon any other organization until I know the full extent of the involvement.

(I also wonder how many other public-advocacy groups have such problems…and how they would attempt to filter out moles…)

but like you’re saying — there’s (as yet) no reason to conclude the NRA was really involved much; she seems to have been a freelancer, perhaps hoping she could compile a dossier on these guys she could then go cold-calling for bids on. plus, as PGP says, what’s she likely to have found out that anybody with a half a clue couldn’t have guessed anyway? they might be anti-gunners, but it’s not like they’re holding crack-fuelled orgies in their back rooms. i really don’t think she’s got that much “dirt”, other than having learned which of their members can’t stand / have crushes on which other ones — and honestly, that sort of details don’t much matter.

oh, and i don’t want these guys destroyed, myself. completely defeated politically and legislatively, with their agendas utterly discredited in the view of the general public, will quite suffice.