Domestic terrorism, gun violence, and white supremacy are being inflamed by the tweeter in the White House. Kamala Harris released a plan today to combat and disarm violent hate, taking on domestic terrorism with a comprehensive plan that blocks terrorists’ access to guns, and also analyzes and prevents white nationalist terrorism, both foreign and domestic. Her message:
There are only “very fine people” on one side, and we intend to act and win.
Her plan includes:
Empower federal courts to issue new “Domestic Terrorism Prevention Orders” to temporarily seize the gun of a suspected terrorist or individual who may imminently perpetrate a hate crime.
Noting that “Guns are the weapon of choice for domestic terrorists and perpetrators of hate crimes,” Harris will empower courts to temporarily seize the guns of individuals exhibiting clear evidence of dangerousness, when petitioned by law enforcement officers or family members:
Adam Skaggs, chief counsel at Giffords Law Center, applauded Harris' red flag proposal.
"The advantage of these laws is that they don't wait until somebody commits an act of violence and then respond with criminal sanctions," Skaggs said in an interview with CNN. "What they attempt to do is try and stop violence from occurring before it actually does."
Skaggs shut down the notion that those identified will not have a fair hearing, saying after an inquiry is found credible, those accused have the chance to contest the civil procedure in a hearing.
"Every policymaker in the country, whether they're running for president or not, should be thinking about how best we can prevent this hate fueled violence from continuing," he said. (
CNN)
Red flag laws aren’t a new concept for Harris:
Harris was the attorney general of California when the state enacted its red-flag law in response to a killing spree near the University of California-Santa Barbara by a 22-year-old man with a history of violent incidents. (WashingtonPost)
Harris also reiterates her plan to take executive action to require online gun dealers like ArmsList.com to perform background checks. (This is being treated as something new in some of the news coverage, although it was an explicit part of her gun violence plan released in April—pay attention, press people.)
Immediately direct the National Counterterrorism Center to address the threat of global white-nationalist terrorism, and seek authority to include domestic terrorism in its mission.
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) analyzes and integrates all terror-related intelligence from government datasets, intelligence reporting, and operational information. They are the experts in radicalization, but are currently prohibited by Congress from tackling domestic terrorism. Harris will seek authority from Congress to expand NCTC’s mission to include domestic terrorism. “The rise of white nationalist extremist violence in America is a terrorism threat, and Harris will treat it as such.” Transparency and civil liberties will not be forgotten, either:
- As NCTC expands its purview, it will take steps to increase transparency and accountability. For example, the Intelligence Community Inspector General will commission a report on the scope of NCTC’s work, their compliance with privacy and civil rights laws, and the demographic makeup of individuals in their terrorist watchlist database.
Reverse President Trump’s dangerous efforts to deprioritize countering white supremacy and commit $2 billion to investigate, disrupt, and prosecute domestic terrorists.
Harris promises to create new working groups within DHS, the Department of Justice, and the FBI to analyze, investigate, and prosecute domestic terrorism. She also proposes more closely monitoring white nationalists' websites and forums--consistent with civil liberties protections—to identify extremist networks and seek Domestic Terrorism Prevention Orders. She commits $2 billion over ten years to these and other measures to combat violence tied to hate-based ideologies:
"At a very high level, it's taking an approach that's been around since 9/11 and al-Qaeda and international terrorism," said Olsen, the former NCTC director, of the Harris proposal. "The threat of domestic terrorism is at that level if not greater, so we should take a similar all-government approach and empower organization's like NCTC which have a lot of expertise to develop strategies." (UsaToday)
Although Trump has been, in Harris’ words, “tweeting out the ammunition,” this problem predates Trump and will outlast him:
(partial, messy) transcript:
It begins and ends with the question and then the answer to it, as opposed to recognizing the long history in the United States of this as an issue — the issue of hate. I, as a line prosecutor, handled hate crimes. As the Attorney General of California[...] I published hate crime reports every year[...] This is not new in America. Hate is not new. Hate that takes the form of racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia is not new in our country. And I will not participate in a conversation that simplifies this issue, without recognizing [...] it happened before this guy was in the White House, it will continue after [...]he’s certainly fanning the flames of hate, but if we’re going to have this conversation let’s have it in a meaningful way, [...]looking in the mirror to say: Where have we been on this, and what are we prepared to do?
Kamala Harris is the real deal.
(I’m sure someone will do a real news piece on this plan here eventually—consider this a preview.)