Utah Representative Blasts Attorneys for Lack of Prosecution of Death Threats
Heidi Hecht for natpolitics.com
Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has blasted U.S. law enforcement agencies and attorneys for failing to investigate and prosecute death threats against politicians. He expressed concern for his colleagues due to the possibility that these threats could escalate into actual violence if they are not addressed in a meaningful way.
“We’re going to hunt your *** down, wrap a rope around your neck, and hang you,” said one voicemail he had received that was aired on Fox News.
When attorneys fail to meaningfully prosecute death threats, this becomes the world in which celebrities like Johnny Depp feel like they can “joke” about assassinating the president, ignoring the fact that their words do have consequences. Some nutcase could take those words seriously and actually make an attempt on the president’s life.
This becomes the world in which people can get away with inciting a riot with calls to, “Burn this place to the ground.” It also becomes the world in which bloggers get targeted with numerous death threats for criticizing Beyonce for sampling audio from the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in one of her songs. The man behind NASA Watch, Keith Cowing, told me a while back that the FBI did not even bother to investigate some of the worst threats he received because it would have been “too difficult” to track them down. That means that people who dislike somebody else’s opinion can attempt to silence them with death threats because the people making these threats know perfectly well that there will be no consequences to them.
However, there are consequences to innocent people who may have been guilty of no more than writing a blog post that criticizes a singer for disrespecting the final crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger, all of whom perished when the space shuttle disintegrated shortly after launch in 1986. Threats like this may affect the ability of anyone, ranging from Keith Cowing to Representative Chaffetz, to do their jobs because they worry that they may be targeted by someone who may already be prone to violence as a way of “doing something” about politicians they disagree with, heard what people like Johnny Depp had to say and took them seriously.
Technically, inciting violence is already illegal, but this is rarely enforced. Celebrities like Depp may try to claim that it’s covered by the First Amendment and was “just a joke” in any case. However, nobody is laughing and inciting violence is not covered by the First Amendment. Do law enforcement authorities wish to avoid the perception that they are squelching free speech by enforcing laws against inciting violence? Or are they just dismissing the matter as no big deal because it’s just a stupid celebrity and they don’t want to be bothered to exert themselves by investigating the matter?
In either case, Schaffetz is right to be concerned about the safety of his colleagues in a world where law enforcement authorities and attorneys refuse to pursue death threats. We should also be concerned about the safety of anyone who dares to express an opinion that might be unpopular in certain camps. When death threats are taken at all seriously, it leads to situations like Ann Coulter being forced to cancel an appearance at Berkley College and that squelches free speech far more than enforcing laws against inciting violence ever would. However, law enforcement authorities just aren’t interested in looking into threats of violence in any way whatsoever and that has caused concern even among members of Congress who may feel threatened by constituents who disagree with them and use death threats to convey their dissatisfaction with their representatives.
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