Great move by the governor of Tennessee to eliminate the rioting, looting, violence and arson. Lock these criminals up with felonies. Every decent citizen should demand that their state enact similar laws. Tennessee governor signs bill cracking down on certain protests https://www.foxnews.com/politics/te...ing-punishments-for-specific-forms-of-protest Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee has signed off on a bill that imposes harsher penalties for protesters who break certain laws during demonstrations. The Volunteer State's General Assembly passed the measure last week, and Lee signed it into law without an announcement Thursday. People who illegally camp on state property now face a Class E felony, punishable by up to six years in prison, instead of a misdemeanor. Individuals found guilty of a felony in Tennessee also lose the right to vote. In addition, the law requires that people convicted of aggravated rioting serve a mandatory 45-day sentence, raises the fine for blocking highway access to emergency vehicles, and increases the penalty for aggravated assault against a first responder to a Class C felony. A Class C felony comes with a $15,000 fine and a mandatory minimum 90-day prison sentence. After almost two months of sustained protests outside the state Capitol, the bill passed the GOP-lead General Assembly following a three-day special legislative session. Lawmakers also passed bills on COVID-19 liability immunity and telemedicine. Lee and other Tennessee Republicans have defended the bill, pointing to fires that were set inside and outside a courthouse in May. “I think what we saw was a courthouse on fire and businesses being broken into and vehicles being damaged. We saw lawlessness that needed to be addressed immediately,” Lee told reporters on Thursday. That said, Lee has admitted there were portions of the legislation he “would have done differently.” The move comes on the heels of nearly two months of protests in Nashville sparked by the death of George Floyd, with demonstrators calling for racial justice reforms and a meeting with Lee. While Lee has declined to meet with them, he has commuted to meet with a handful of Black leaders and has promised to address “racial reconciliation” and other issues. Hedy Weinberg, the leader of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, told The Associated Press on Friday that they were "very disappointed" by Lee's decision to enact the law. "While the governor often speaks about sentencing reform, this bill contradicts those words and wastes valuable taxpayer funds to severely criminalize dissent," she said.
Well they're finally hauling in the criminal trespassers for justice... long overdue. St. Louis police cite 9 for trespassing in June protest outside Portland Place mansion https://www.stltoday.com/news/local...cle_71a98b44-0fc2-5f19-ba03-e9662bd5438f.html City police have issued trespassing summonses to nine protesters who on June 28 marched onto Portland Place, a private and gated street where a St. Louis couple brandished guns as demonstrators walked past their mansion. The police department confirmed it issued citations to nine people but declined to identify them, citing provisions of the state Sunshine Law that seals arrest reports and other records during an active investigation. “The police department investigated nine instances of trespassing related to this incident,” St. Louis police spokeswoman Evita Caldwell said in an email Thursday. “Charges are being reviewed by the City Counselor’s Office.” Deputy City Counselor Mike Garvin said Friday that “police have presented materials to us and we are considering whether to issue charges on the citations.” Garvin said the office wants to examine video from the protest “to see where the accused trespassers were at the time.” Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who are each charged with one felony count of unlawful use of a weapon, made their first court appearance Aug. 31 and have another hearing set for Oct. 6 unless a grand jury issues an indictment before then. Charges said Mark McCloskey, 63, pointed an AR-15 rifle at protesters and Patricia McCloskey, 61, wielded a semiautomatic handgun, placing protesters in fear of injury. Dozens had marched past the McCloskey home that evening and it wasn’t clear what determinations police used to cite just the nine demonstrators. Activist Ohun Ashe tweeted last week that she received a trespassing summons, saying, “I had a gun waved in my face by them but trespassing is what matters?” This week, the Circuit Attorney’s Office filed a brief in the case arguing the Missouri Attorney General’s Office should be removed as a party in the case. A lawyer for that state office responded in opposition, saying its move to dismiss the charges against the McCloskeys was proper. The McCloskeys’ lawyer filed another motion Thursday seeking to disqualify St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner and the rest of the Circuit Attorney’s Office, alleging her reelection campaign exploited the case in political fundraising emails. The filing claims Chief Warrant Officer Chris Hinckley improperly instructed the police crime lab “to disassemble, modify and reassemble” one of the guns seized from the McCloskeys “to render it operational.” McCloskey supplemental motion to disqualify Circuit Attorney's Office Gardner opposes the McCloskeys’ and the Missouri attorney general’s motions, saying in a court pleading that the McCloskeys should quit turning their gun case into “political theater.”
In most states it is legal to shoot trespassers on your property who threaten you. These citations establish the legal basis that it was perfectly allowable for the McCloskey's to be holding firearms.
but not brandishing or pointing it at people. The trespassing was on the gated community and not their property as the article notes.
They were justified in brandishing weaponry based on criminally threatening statements being yelled at them that gave them or anyone else reasonable cause to believe that their personal safety was in danger. This is true regardless of whether their exact physical position was on or off of their property in regard to the issue of trespassing. Don't agree? Fine, show me a conviction at trial then. I will wait.