by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Anytime I see my state - Missouri - trending in the news I go into automatic "cringe" mode because whatever news the "show me" state is stirring up, it is seldom of the "good" variety.
In particular, news from our state legislature is seldom positive and it is usually of the type that makes Missouri look foolish to the civilized portions of America. Our legislators, primarily a ripe assemblage of farmers and white businessmen, generally have three areas of focus. First, they try to come up with ways to insure that the poor and working classes are the primary funders of government - with things like sales taxes, lotteries, and other maneuvers to keep the tax burdens off of the people with money. Second, they are always open to any national fad legislation that would put more guns in the hands of more white people. And third, they will move Heaven and Earth to come up with ways to limit women's freedom to control their own bodies.
Most Missouri legislators worth their white table salt will go to the wall to protect a fetus - and then sit smugly next to a warm fire while hungry children sleep in the streets on cold winter nights. It's just how they are.
Yesterday, however, our esteemed state legislature took some initial steps in a new direction. Now we have legislators who want to want to focus on limiting people's constitutional First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly. Two legislators, one state representative and one state senator-elect, introduced similar bills that would give motorists the protection of state law if they were to run over protestors with their cars.
State Representative Adam Schnelting, a Republican from St. Charles, filed a bill that he titled the "Fleeing Motorist Protection Act" to protect motorists who are "trapped in their vehicle during a riot." In defending his intent, the GOP representative talked about the horrors of having your grandparents trapped in a car and surrounded by a "riotous assemblage," and saying they needed some state protection in case they hit someone with their car as they were trying to flee the scene.
That brings visions of the "stand your ground" laws which roared through state legislatures a decade ago. Their stated intent was to allow people to protect themselves, but they quickly degenerated into legal excuses to shoot anyone who came to your door. Today Rep. Schnelting is concerned with terrified grandparents trapped in cars, but if his legislation is enacted it would soon be seen as a legal right to drive a vehicle into crowds of protestors for no other reason than to injure or kill as many as possible.
It's not about protecting motorists, it's about disrupting protests.
The representative's bill discusses drivers who are "fleeing unlawful or riotous assemblage," but the companion bill being introduced in the state senate is more plainspoken. The bill introduced by State Senator-elect Rick Brattin of Harrisonville declares:
"Any person operating a motor vehicle who injures another person with the motor vehicle shall not be liable for any damages if, at the time of the injury: (1) The person operating the motor vehicle was exercising due care; and (2) The person injured was blocking traffic in a public right-of-way while participating in a protest or demonstration."
Bottom line: Republicans, at least Missouri Republicans, are not comfortable with the First Amendment and right of people to peacefully assemble and protest. These bills open the door to violent responses to peaceful protests just as the "stand your ground" laws opened the door to unprovoked murder based on such non-threatening things as the volume of music or skin tone.
America was founded on protests, demonstrations, and "riotous assemblages" like the Boston Tea Party, but leave it to today's GOP to try and turn back the clock and save the tea! They talk freedom and liberty, but they walk in lockstep with the world's authoritarian regimes!
Real freedom is being able to talk back to your government without fear of being shot for your thoughts or being run down by a lunatic in a car! Not having that ability is oppression and a mile-marker on the road to tyranny!
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