Convicted Rapist Lawmaker Loses Concealed Gun License, Goes Apeshit

Meet admitted rapist and Idaho State Rep. Mark Patterson (R-Boise). On Sunday, Patterson received notice that his concealed carry license was being revoked because in 2007 and 2012, he lied on his permit application when he said he hadn’t pled guilty to rape (Mark Patterson, in fact, did). Patterson is fighting back, arguing that even though a 1990 law in Idaho exempts elected officials from having to apply for a concealed permit, having his permit (which he doesn’t technically need) taken away because he lied on his application (about being a rapist) is a violation of his rights. Okay.

Backstory: In a 1974 plea deal, Patterson pled guilty to “assault with intent to commit rape” in Florida, a felony. Here’s the Idaho Statesman with more on that:

Seeing a woman crying in the bar parking lot, Patterson offered to drive her to her home in his 1962 Simca sedan, according to police reports.

Instead, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Patterson took her to his apartment, forced her from his car, chased her when she ran, caught her, put his hand over her mouth and forced her upstairs to his apartment, the reports say.

There, Patterson introduced her to Thor, his 85-pound Doberman. […]

Patterson said “that if she did not do as he told her, he would turn the dog loose on her,” the woman told police, and that “the dog would attack on command.”

The woman also told police that Patterson said he belonged to a motorcycle gang “and they would come after her if she told anyone about him.”

Unsurprisingly, these things are illegal and got Mark Patterson in some troubs. More from the Statesman,

In July 1974, after some jail time, Patterson agreed to plead guilty to the lesser assault with intent [to commit rape] charge, receiving a withheld judgment and five years’ probation. He was ordered to leave Florida with his father on the day of his sentencing. Two years later, he was released from his probation, three years early.

Being ordered out of Florida for being too much of a slimeball is like being kicked out of Wisconsin for loving cheese too much. It’s like winning the gold medal in being a dickhead.

But that’s not all; a few years later, Mark Patterson was tried for rape again (“by means of forcibly choking and threatening the life” of a victim), this time in his hometown of Cincinnati. He was acquitted of those charges, but failed to disclose both the 1974 and 1977 incidents when applying for an Idaho concealed weapons permit in 2007 and again in 2012.

Patterson’s rapey history was uncovered by Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey, who on Sunday published the above-excerpted piece about the incidents and the fact that Patterson’s permit was about to be pulled. In response, Patterson went nuts, releasing a borderline bizarre public statement accusing Popkey and others of running a “bare knuckle campaign” to take him down. Here are some juicy bits:

I am mortified and embarrassed that I must answer these sleazy allegations. My heart breaks for my wife and family. Yet I am also outraged that such nasty politics and abuse of power would be carried out in Idaho. We are better than this. […]

First, I am not a rapist, nor am I guilty of any other crime. […]

I became embroiled in a bizarre encounter with a woman while visiting Florida right after graduation. Suddenly I found myself arrested, alone and in jail with possibility of bond, falsely charged with the horrible crime of rape. I was overwhelmed, scared, and badly beaten twice while held in one of Florida’s most violent jails. […]

We all have embarrassing things from our youth which we are grateful to have outgrown and outlived.

Yeah, dude. How embarrassing to find yourself arrested. Handcuffs just materialized around your wrists and magical fairies appeared to carry you off to jail on their magical unjust carpet. Won’t someone please think of how embarrassing rape is to the families of guys convicted of rape?

Patterson goes on to explain that the woman wanted money, so she lied about him raping her, and that he never even had sexual contact with the woman. He also accused the Sheriff who revoked his permit of being mad at Patterson for “expos(ing)(the sheriff) as an opponent of the 2nd amendment.” This guy sounds legit and totally not unhinged. Give him access to all the guns!

Unfortunately, the revocation of Patterson’s concealed carry permit won’t affect his ability to actually carry; a 1990 Idaho law exempts elected officials — everyone from the governor all the way down to the city toilet inspector, which is an elected position I made up to inject levity into a borderline-rage-inducing state of terminal American gunmania — from needing permits before carrying concealed weapons. I kind of get the reasoning behind that law. I mean, politicians are upright citizens! No constituents would be dumb and gullible enough to elect a convicted rapist, and no rapist would have the hubris to think that a rape conviction wouldn’t be discovered by a dogged journalist, right?