Via TPM:
Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who just became chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, says he will not widen the scope of his hearings on "Muslim radicalization" to include non-Muslim extremists.
Last month, King announced his intent to investigate the "radicalization" of the Muslim community.
Indeed, Mr. King, a nine-term incumbent from Long Island, said that he had sought to raise the issue when Democrats had control of Congress, but was “denounced for it.” He added: “It is controversial. But to me, it is something that has to be discussed.”
Of course, King isn't quite as concerned with discussing other kinds of radicalization. In 2009, when the Department of Homeland Security released its report on rightwing extremism, Rep. King didn't give a damn about that kind of extremism either. As Think Progress reported at the time:
Today on MSNBC, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) used the release of the DHS assessment to advance his well-documented anti-Muslim agenda. King told Joe Scarborough that, instead of discussing the threat of anti-government radicals, DHS should focus on the threat emanating from “Muslims” and “mosques” at home:
KING: [Napolitano] has never put out a report talking about look out for mosques. Look out for Islamic terrorists in our country. Look out for the fact that very few Muslims come forward to cooperate with the police. If they sent out a report saying that, there would be hell to pay.
Who cares about the rightwing extremists when there are Muslims who want to build mosques?
You'd think, after the shooting in Tucscon last weekend -- a shooting carried out by a non-Muslim -- King might be interested in investigating all forms of radicalization.
But you'd be wrong.
"The issue of Muslim radicalization is totally different. It's an internal threat, a foreign terrorist group recruiting people to take up arms against the United States," King said.
"We've always had throughout our history deranged people taking up arms," he said.
Why should Americans be afraid of non-Muslim radicalization? That's just run-of-the-mill "deranged people taking up arms."
However, as Barbara Morrill reported earlier today, King isn't completely ignoring the shooting in Tucson.
Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, is planning to introduce legislation that would make it illegal to bring a gun within 1,000 feet of a government official, according to a person familiar with the congressman's intentions.
See? He's taking action to make sure he's protected from "deranged people taking up arms." But when it comes to investigating "deranged people taking up arms"? He'll stick to worrying about Muslims and their mosques, thank you very much.