New NRA chief convicted in 1980 torture and killing of house cat

Douglas Hamlin is the National Rifle Association's new leader, appointed this summer to pull it out of its endless corruption scandals. The Guardian reports that Hamlin, with four others, pleaded no contest to the torture and killing of a house cat, BK, in 1980. It apparently took time to figure out his involvement because "the charges were ultimately expunged from the men's records after they completed 200 hours each of animal-related community service."

The details of the case, described in local media reports at the time, are gruesome. The house cat was captured, its paws were cut off, and was then strung up and set on fire. The killing, which occurred in December 1979, was allegedly prompted by anger that the cat was not using its litterbox.

The case caused such a furore locally that some students and animal rights activists wore buttons and armbands in memory of BK.

Here's Shelagh Abbs Winter, the student who turned him in then and now an animal rights activist: "Once a creep, always a creep."

Some people just don't get that these guys are bona fide sadists and there might soon be very little standing between them and what gets them off.

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