Democrat Rep. Jaime Raskin, son of a communist professor, sponsored a bill to stop all paramilitary activity. Anything by Mr. Raskin needs to be carefully examined.
Bill 6891, Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity of 2024, specifically mentions the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Charlottesville Unite the Right, and Proud Boys because Democrats decided they were domestic terrorists. They are all right-wing. It’s partly a bill to keep J6 alive, but it is also the camel’s nose under the 1st Amendment tent. Raskin doesn’t mention Antifa, Black Lives Matter, or Hamas groups, which have armed paramilitary groups.
It looks like it is aimed at terrorists, but it isn’t.
Specifically, the legislation would prohibit the following dangerous conduct (which are already illegal):
- publicly patrolling, drilling, or engaging in harmful or deadly paramilitary techniques
- interfering with or interrupting government proceedings
- interfering with the exercise of someone else’s constitutional rights
- falsely assuming the functions of law enforcement and asserting authority over others
- training to engage in such behavior
Engaging in harmful or deadly conduct is illegal. What do they mean by patrolling? Drilling is legal and should remain legal. The remainder are illegal until you get to the last one, which is the 1st Amendment right to free association. People can train to protect themselves and their property – for example, neighborhood watch. Where would they draw the line? It’s too vague and all-encompassing. It’s yet another bill to pull in innocent people Democrats disagree with.
This is aimed at one side only, and it is another attack on the 1st Amendment. It’s too vague. They do this with hate speech laws also – leave it vague, and it becomes a political trap.
It won’t go anywhere with this House of Representatives, but this is where Democrats want to go.
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