ACLU and these Westboro extremists can hide behind "free speech" all they want! But libel and slander are STILL illegal. So is disturbing the peace. So is communicating threats. So is HARASSMENT!
However, if what they're doing constitutes libel, slander, disturbing the peace, communicating threats and harassment, then they should be charged under those laws. There is no need to pass new laws if existing laws address the situation.
If what they're doing *doesn't* constitute those crimes, then yes, it's a free speech issue. The first amendment isn't there to protect nice cuddly speech we all like.
I disagree on the need to pass new laws. Sure, run the monsters in if they DO show up and do it. But passing a law that's designed to PREVENT these insane "protests" from happening at ALL if to the benefit of BOTH sides. Though I doubt they had the interests of the cult (in retrospect, it's probably blasphemy to call them a "Church") in mind when they wrote the laws, remember...
You make a living poking a hornet's nest long enough, sooner or later you're gonna get STUNG!Look at it this way. There are
already laws that say a sex offender will be punished if he does something like move in next door and then molests my nephews. But do you think for a second I would protest if the state government passed a law that said sex offenders can't live within 10 miles of a child in our state??? Sometimes measures to prevent save everyone a lot more grief than measures to PUNISH.
I'm actually amazed that no one has tried to either beat some sense INTO, or the devil OUT OF, these people yet. NOT that it would be right, fair, or certainly not LEGAL. But when you've lost a loved one, I know firsthand that you don't always CARE what is right, fair, or legal.
I agree that the cult has a right to SAY what they think. Just the act of saying it does not bother me. It's HOW they do it!
Shouldn't people have a right to lay their loved ones to rest in a respectful environment?On "less meaningful" issues -
-----Can a guy claim "free speech" when a movie theater owner throws him out for yapping on his cell phone during a movie?
-----Can a student claim "free speech" when he gets detention for talking to his buddies while the teacher is doing a lecture?
-----Could *I* claim free speech if I started quoting scripture on love and tolerance on the street in front of Phelps' house...via a megaphone...at 2 in the morning?
As I type this, I realize that maybe the local law enforcement SHOULD have been more "gung-ho" in putting these monsters behind bars, if only for disturbing the peace. Then maybe these laws wouldn't have been needed. But
can you guess WHAT would have happened if the good guys used the existing laws to rain on the cult's parade?Who wants to take bets that
the ACLU would have sued the LOCAL authorities on the same grounds of stifling the "free speech" of people who's sole purpose is to pour salt on the wounds of mourning families?!?!? I know the ACLU has the ability to "turn away" cases, it's how they shun the 2nd Amendment. The fact that they DON'T have enough compassion or just common SENSE to tell the Westboro cult to get bent should say all we need to know about their character.