Arizona's Martha McSally pens bill to make domestic terrorism a federal offense
By Emily Tillett
/ CBS News
Amid a growing trend of domestic terror attacks in the United States, Arizona Republican Sen. Martha McSally wants legislation on the books that makes such acts of violence a federal crime. Currently there is a criminal statute for international terrorism, but not domestic.
McSally's bill comes as the FBI has issued a new warning about domestic terror threats in the wake of deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. The bill says "violent extremists could become inspired by these and previous high-profile attacks to engage in similar acts of violence."
The FBI currently defines domestic terror as acts of violence "perpetrated by individuals and/or groups inspired by or associated with primarily U.S.-based movements that espouse extremist ideologies of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature." But as more attacks are taking place within the homeland, individuals who commit these violent acts will ultimately be indicted on different federal charges — hate crimes or weapons possession. The reason: Domestic terrorism is defined in the U.S. legal code but it is not codified as a law that can be prosecuted.
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The Republican's proposed legislation seeks a range of punishments for those that carry out acts of domestic terrorism that results in murder including life in prison or the death penalty. It also looks to criminalize politically motivated violence, recognize victims of terrorism and allows federal authorities to charge suspects with acts of domestic terrorism.
The bill also asks for an annual report on domestic terror threats compiled by the Department of Justice, FBI and Department of Homeland Security. The report would include an "assessment of the domestic terrorism threat, including connections between domestic extremism and acts of terrorism committed abroad and an analysis of incidents or attempted incidents of domestic terrorism that have occurred in the United States."
McSally's proposal is the latest in a rallying cry among lawmakers seeking to make incidents like the ones in El Paso and Dayton a federal offense. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, told CBS' "Face the Nation" just last week that he supports making domestic terrorism a federal crime.
"We're seeing a very alarming increase in domestic terrorism. We need to make sure the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have the tools they need to go and root out — whether it's white supremacist, whether it's radicals from the left that are committing some of these crimes," said Scalise.
In the meantime, the Justice Department said it was officially treating the El Paso shooting as domestic terrorism after the 21-year old suspect, who is accused of killing at least 22 people, allegedly wrote a racist essay in which he denounced the increasing Hispanic population in Texas.
First published on August 14, 2019 / 8:21 AM
© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Emily Tillett
Emily Tillett is a politics reporter and video editor for CBS News Digital
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