The murder of a police officer is not just an attack on law enforcement but it is an open, deadly assault upon America. Recently Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn is proposing a law that is long time in coming in which, if enacted, will make it a federal crime punishable by death to murder an officer.
Would You Support a Bill That Makes Killing Police a Federal Crime?
The legislation comes upon the heels of two tragic assassination of police officers in Dallas, Texas and in as well as in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In Dallas, five officers were killed and three were murdered in Baton Rouge. In both cases the murderous assailants were black who had alleged connections to violent black nationalist organizations.
For many Americans, the notion that the police who willingly and selfishly place their very lives on the lines daily to protect and serve are targets for assassination is horrific. That is why Sen. Cornyn decided that the nation’s protectors should no longer feel as if they have a target painted on their back and there is no back up for them.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Cornyn stressed,
Law enforcement officers selflessly put their lives on the line every day to protect our communities, and in return they deserve our unparalleled support for the irreplaceable role they serve.” Cornyn added “The Back the Blue Act” sends a clear message that our criminal justice system simply will not tolerate those who viciously and deliberately target our law enforcement.
With each assault upon an officer’s life the nation America itself is less safe and less secure. The false notions and outright lies that have been perpetrated against the hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers by Black Lives Matter (BLM), the New Black Panther Party and their liberal apologists must be stopped and criminalized.
There may be First Amendment rights that protect the freedom of speech. But there is no freedom in this nation that permits the condoning of speech which openly permits murder. There is no protected speech which permits an individual or group to intentionally support the assassination of the president or vice president. That is a federal crime. The intentional spoken or written words that are communicated should also be a federal crime that should be vigorously enforced.
Make no mistake, these police attackers are not heroes of some twisted violence-embraced movement. These murderers are no different from the Islamic extremist terrorists who also embrace the murdering of American law enforcement officers. Their alleged protected speech harms and in far too many cases has recently resulted in the murder of dedicated law enforcement officers.
To prevent the further mindless assaults the effort by Sen Cornyn to launch the “Back the Blue Act of 2016” would prevent is crucial. The law would in part create a new federal crime for killing a federal judge, law enforcement officer, or public safety officer, with the offender subject to the death penalty and a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years. The Texas senator said “The Back the Blue Act sends a clear message that our criminal justice system simply will not tolerate those who viciously and deliberately target our law enforcement,” reported the Dallas Morning News.
A companion bipartisan bill to the proposed legislation is already heading to President Obama’s desk in the form of the POLICE Act. The bill which was adopted by the Senate unanimously in May after passing the House in February helps medical personnel and law enforcement train for active shooter situations by using federal funded grants.
The future legislative success of the Back the Blue Act looks good with the support of key law enforcement organizations like the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Major County Sheriffs Association, National Fraternal Order of Police, the National District Attorneys Association, and the Sergeants Benevolent Association, as well as the Department of Justice’s VALOR program.
photo credit: Police Support via photopin (license); Ross Pollack
