We Need a Federal Law Against Death Threats with Strong Criminal Penalties
by John Lawrence
Death threats are proliferating, and the perpetrators seemingly have nothing to fear. Some states have laws against it, but I doubt if their police departments are devoting resources to tracking down the perpetrators. Now with domestic terrorists and white supremacists finally on the FBI's radar, the resources of the vaunted US intelligence agencies should be deployed to insure that these people are brought to justice. If they wanted to, they could track these people down whether the death threat was delivered by phone, email, social media or letter. What are these guys doing for the $61.9 billion that is budgeted per year for the National Intelligence Program? I know, they've been following ISIS. Well ISIS is no longer the main threat to America or Americans. Domestic terrorists are. And don't tell me they can't track people because they are using the "dark web." If anyone can figure out how to use the dark web, they certainly can. That's their business.
So America being a "free" country means that we should just let domestic terrorist groups go about their business without a lot of government intervention because of free speech or whatever? How naive! Supposedly, we can't be like China where everyone is on government radar. Well, we don't need for everyone to be on government radar just the ones that might do us harm or threaten us. The tools should be available to the intelligence agencies and law enforcement. If they're not available because of legal restrictions or otherwise, things need to change so that law enforcement has the tools that it needs. If this invades someone's privacy or First Amendment rights of free speech, so be it. Why should anyone who is not involved in criminal activities or tax evasion, mind if government had the tools to spy on people? Government should not waste its resources spying on people who haven't aroused suspicion or haven't needed to be spied on. Obviously, domestic terrorists do need to be spied on. They should have no rights of privacy and no right to plan violent acts with impunity. According to Wikipedia:
"The FBI defines domestic terrorism as violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature. Under current United States law, set forth in the USA PATRIOT Act, acts of domestic terrorism are those which: "(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; (B) appear to be intended – (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States."
"While the PATRIOT Act defines "domestic terrorism" for the purposes of authorizing law enforcement investigations, no federal criminal offense exists which is referred to as "domestic terrorism". While international terrorism ("acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries") is a defined crime in federal law, acts of domestic terrorism are charged under specific laws, such as killing federal agents or "attempting to use explosives to destroy a building in interstate commerce". Citizens suspected of terrorism are usually investigated and arrested by federal law enforcement, such as the FBI. For instance, from 2016 to 2018, the FBI arrested 355 suspects on domestic terrorism related charges. Per the FBI, the vast majority were motivated by racist and anti-government ideology."
Threatening a government official is a felony under Federal law, but threatening an average citizen also should be a felony under Federal law. So far it's not. That's why these laws need to be looked at and probably strengthened. Also all those who were involved in the insurrection January 6 need to be tracked down and prosecuted no matter how long it takes. Anyone who did not cross the original barriers at the Capitol are innocent but all others whether or not they actually entered the Capitol should be brought to justice.
