Democrat state senators in Connecticut have proposed creating a new department in the State Police specifically for combatting “far-right extremism” — without any mention of Antifa or radical leftists.
Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney said that the department won’t be used for political persecution, which he believes is “unfortunate,” since a person’s views are protected under the First Amendment.
The extremely biased proposal was part of the senate Democrats “A Just Connecticut” agenda that was unveiled last week.
Their official press release about the proposal says that they want “to finance and create a new department at the Connecticut State Police which will specialize in investigating far right extremist groups and individuals.”
They went on to claim that their desire for a new department targeting the right is “a result of the increase in far-right extremism.” They added that they think the federal government is “unwilling to protect different communities of Connecticut”, so “the state should fund a new department at the Connecticut State Police which will specialize in investigating far right extremist groups and individuals.”
Looney explained that he only wants the department to investigate “potential hate crimes” because “unfortunately” political views, even those that are “hateful,” are protected speech.
“Unfortunately, people who entertain hateful beliefs … are protected as long as [those beliefs] don’t result in hate-crime actions. That’s what we’re talking about,” Mr. Looney told reporters, according to a report from the Hartford Courant. “We want to be more aggressive in enforcing our laws and identifying likely sources of potential domestic terrorism acts against religious institutions and ethnic institutions.”
With Democrats spending the last four years calling anyone right of MSNBC “Nazis” and “racists” it is hard to imagine that a department like this wouldn’t be abused and trample all over the First Amendment.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano is pushing back on the proposal, though he said that everyone does want to stop hate crimes.
“When they put a right-wing label on extremism, they do that to elicit a political response,” Fasano told the Courant.
The legislation would also use taxpayer money to fund enhanced security features at religious facilities.
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