Democratic Rep to Offer Legislation That Would Make it a Federal Crime to Threaten Members of Congress
Click here to view this media Looks like someone has had quite enough of Sarah Palin and her eliminationist rhetoric: Shooting prompts legislation to protect lawmakers, officials : Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pennsylvania, said he will introduce legislation making it a federal crime for a person to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a Member of Congress or federal official. Brady’s decision to offer the legislation comes less than 24 hours after a gunman attempted to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, in a shooting that claimed the lives of a federal judge, and a nine year-old girl, among others. “The president is a federal official,” Brady said in a telephone interview with CNN. “You can’t do it to him; you should not be able to do it to a congressman, senator or federal judge. “This is not a wake up call, this is major alarms going off,” he said. Brady is particularly incensed over a web posting by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during the 2010 election in which she targeted 20 House Democrats, including Giffords for political defeat. The posting showed a map of the United States with the 20 Democratic congressional districts identified by gun sights. “You can’t put bulls eyes or crosshairs on a United States congressman or a federal official,” Brady said. “I understand this web site that had it on there is no longer in existence. Someone is feeling a little guilty.” But a Palin aide Saturday denied the web posting from the 2010 congressional campaign was designed to incite violence. Rebecca Mansour told conservative host Tammy Bruce that it was a political tool and noted it should have been removed after the November election. Brady said he is hearing that the spouses of some of his congressional colleagues, specifically the newly elected members, are terrified and questioning whether they should remain in Congress. Upon hearing the news of the shooting Saturday, some spouses attending a freshman retreat in West Virginia, were “taking their children out of the daycare,” Brady said he was told. “The spouses are in an uproar,” he said. “They are panicking.” Brady said it is now time to put an end to the hyper-charged language. Well, we’ll see if Republicans go along with it, and what’s in the legislation, but I could see something like this being abused pretty easily, depending on the language in the bill.
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on January 10, 2011. Filed under