Lawmakers in several states are facing pushback this week months after introducing bills that restrict the rights of protesters. The proposed bills are getting attention again after James Fields of Ohio drove his car into counter-protesters at a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday, killing one woman and injuring 19 others. Fields has been charged with one count of second-degree murder.
State Sen. George Gainer (R-Florida)Â introduced a measure that would make it a crime for people to obstruct traffic during a protest, and would also release a driver from liability if they unintentionally injure or kill a protester in the street, according to the News Herald.
Says the guy who wants to legalize murdering protesters with vehicles.
Ashamed that you are a FL Representative, your bill legalizing the murder of peaceful protesters is shameful. - Julie Evans (@jevansinFL) August 13, 2017
Indiana: GOP Sen. Tomes' Proposal
In January, Indiana Sen. James Tomes (R-Wadesville) introduced a measure that would require law enforcement to clear protesters from roadways by "any means necessary." At the time, Tomes expressed concern that protests can obstruct ambulances and inconvenience drivers.
"I always hear the cry, ‘I have my rights,' but I don't recall ever hearing on a newscast someone screaming, ‘I have my obligation,'" Tomes said in January. "And with rights comes obligation."
The measure faced immediate push-back from some other lawmakers. Within a month, a legislative committee watered down the language, striking the "any means necessary" language entirely. The new version created an infraction for "mass traffic obstruction" and allowed state police to help local law enforcement enforce it.
Even that version couldn't get a vote. Eventually Tomes gutted the bill, asking only to assign the topic to a summer study committee.
"It's not a big problem yet," Tomes said in February. "It can be, and, in order to maybe ensure we don't have something like that, it doesn't hurt to maybe get ahead of this."
Even that wasn't a popular decision among opponents, like Sen. Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis) who said the bill doesn't belong in a study committee, but in the garbage.
"We're going to study whether or not you should be able to stand in the street and protest and whether or not somebody should be able to use water hoses, or whatever you want to use, to move you out of the street," Taylor said in February. "Really? That's what we're going to study?"
The topic has not been assigned to a summer study committee.
Tomes has not publicly addressed the events in Charlottesville.
