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By that logic, don't we already have an enormous apparatus of laws that exist to protect the property owner? What would these bills add?
by carbocation 14y ago
By that logic, don't we already have an enormous apparatus of laws that exist to protect the property owner? What would these bills add?
- orbitur 14y agoI'm not advocating for new laws, but I do not believe this is a first amendment issue.
- carbocation 14y agoSure it is. The proposed text of the "Animal Ecological Terrorism Act" provides for criminal penalties including jail time for violators. Why should the First Amendment not protect me from the state in this context?
- pc86 14y agoBecause you broke other pre-existing laws (trespassing, possibly breaking & entering, other violations of private property)?
- carbocation 14y ago> By that logic, don't we already have an enormous apparatus of laws that exist to protect the property owner? What would these bills add?
- uptown 14y ago"And employees who do something beyond the scope of their jobs could be charged with criminal trespass." So say an employee that's not an animal rights activist sees something deplorable and records it as evidence. Only then are they considered to have trespassed - flying in the face of whistle-blower protections that have been in-place in countless other industries for decades. If what's happening is a crime - and I believe animal cruelty still qualifies (even if it occurs on a farm) - at what point does someone that chooses to look the other way become a co-conspirator?
- btipling 14y agoWhistleblower laws would protect this individual.
- jellicle 14y agoYou perhaps think the United States has some sort of generic whistleblower protection laws. This is not the case. What you may be thinking of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_Protection_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_Protection_Act which only applies to Federal agency employees.
- pc86 14y agoThis is an important distinction. To the best of my knowledge, individuals who are not Federal employees that engage in whistleblowing do so with the very real possibility that there will be permanent professional retribution.
- mweisbrod 14y agoin response to pc86: professional retribution is fine. That is like getting fired. Going to jail and being labelled a terrorist is not professional retribution.
- Retric 14y agoThe most recent law takes precedence, so this may remove Whistleblower protection.
- glesica 14y agoThen the person should be prosecuted for trespass. Still doesn't make it OK to violate their free speech rights...
- dbpatterson 14y agoand certainly not for "terrorism"