Reps. Moulton and Escobar Reintroduce Bill to Prosecute Mass Shootings as Acts of Terrorism
Congressman Seth MoultonJul 27, 2023
Rochester, N.Y. Police Chief David Smith said Tuesday there is no evidence yet of terrorism related to the fatal car crash outside the Kodak Center after midnight on Jan. 1. While he said it was "not abnormal" for their "Joint Terrorism Task Force [to be] involved" in the investigation, they have "uncovered no evidence of an ideology and no nexus to terrorism, either international or domestic."
Meanwhile, the FBI has reportedly opened its investigation into a potential act of domestic terrorism. The incident occurred at around 2 a.m. Monday morning local time outside the Kodak Center where 1K people were gathered to see a local band play. As police were conducting a traffic patrol, a Ford SUV crashed into another SUV, killing two and injuring several pedestrians in the crosswalk.
Mass killings today are often part of a broader online network — either officially or unofficially — of enablers who push potential perpetrators to commit acts of violence in public. Under the current law, whereby domestic killers are charged only under regular criminal codes, police are unable to go after those who are egging on and supporting domestic terrorists. If these dangerous actions are designated as terrorism, not only will police have more resources to investigate killings but work to prevent them in the first place.
Violent acts should be punished, but broadening the definition of terrorism would go beyond acts and criminalize beliefs. US law enforcement has already discriminated against Muslims by quickly deeming them terrorists while their non-Muslim counterparts are "lone wolves." However, broadening the definition to allow the government to oppress more ideologies linked to past violent attacks — from animal rights activists to White supremacists — would only create a more dystopian and intrusive police state.
There's a 50% chance that the US murder rate will be at least 5.65 per 100k inhabitants in 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community