I don't know how such [violent] groups can be broken up under current law. People are free to associate and to be crackpots and nut jobs
It's true that under current law militias and armed groups that carry out domestic terrorism can't be broken up. But my point, in part, is that the current laws may be inadequate given the known scale of the threat. There is a glaring discrepancy between the laws that apply to international vs. domestic terrorism despite the fact that it has long been the latter that poses the gravest threats to the country. There are several good articles on the confused state of the laws used to prosecute the actions of domestic terrorists. As it stands, one former State Dept. Official, Jason Blazakis, says that existing law is a "difficult and arbitrary patchwork that makes it hard to prosecute certain acts, like politically motivated mass shootings," according to The Intercept. He gives an example:
“When someone like [Tree of Life synagogue shooter] Robert Bowers kills18 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue, and he’s not considered a domestic terrorist because he used a handgun and not a weapon of mass destruction. It really points to the absurdity of the law as it exists today,” Blazakis told The Intercept. “If that were an individual inspired by ISIS, they’d be charged with an act of terrorism.
The article (cited above) is pretty good, and discusses the pros and cons of making legal changes to address the policing of domestic terrorists. Civil Libertarians are right to worry about reforms. One reason that violent groups armed to the teeth are not legally classified as terrorist groups is because of the overreach that occurred during the 60s and 70s with anti-war groups, Black Panthers, and others. The Church Committee, after Watergate, with its enemy lists and surveillance of many ordinary citizens, made it hard to monitor and track Americans out of a warranted concern for the violation of privacy, and fear of gov't abuse of power.
Meanwhile, Biden is aware of the problem and ran on a pledge to:
Work for a domestic terrorism law that respects free speech and civil liberties, while making the same commitment to root out domestic terrorism as we have to stopping international terrorism
Btw, Canada designated the Proud Boys as a "terrorist organization" in February, something most Americans do not support in the US largely because of the 1st Amendment concerns you mentioned ("the right to be a nut job, and associate with other nut jobs"). https://www.vox.com/2021/2/3/22264722/canada-proud-boys-domestic-terrorism .... Another reason many Americans wouldn't support it is that a recent survey found that 1 in 3 of them agree with the following statement:
The traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it.
Perhaps warning signs like that result should give us more reason to consider labeling these groups as domestic terror organizations-- at least those well-armed groups that have a record of planning and executing acts of terror. I know there's a slippery slope issue, but I wouldn't rule it out. Maybe Canada got it right. If the Proud Boys, for ex., had been labeled that way legally, it's would be hard to imagine someone like the former guy saying "Stand back and stand by" on national TV. Legal proscriptions are powerful. Dangerous if abused, but this crazy culture of "armed patriots at the gates" should, perhaps, be dealt with by banning such groups. I know it won't happen any time soon, just as the "right to an assault rifle" is as American as apple pie, apparently.
Still, I think more drastic measures than most people here want to see are needed. No other country has such a lax posture towards citizens arming themselves to the teeth in the name of "liberty." Many European and Asian states banned guns (except carefully monitored use for hunting) long ago and no longer have the homicide rates they once did. Mass shootings every few weeks, domestic terror and hate crime at the magnitude we have them is absolutely unacceptable. Maybe armed and violent groups should not expect what you called "the right to associate and be crackpots and nut jobs." At least not the sort of nut jobs that make it their business to commit politically motivated acts of domestic terrorism. If we followed the Canadian model here then I think we would be able to break up some of these threat groups. Of course, in the short term all the armed fanatics would react with wildly increased violence. It is hard to institute peace-conducive policies in a blood-stained country that still has a cowboy ethos in large chunks of the population. That's why we never seem to get meaningful gun law reforms.
No comments:
Post a Comment