Something to keep in mind

Washington state law has some interesting things to keep in mind:

State law defines malicious harassment — a felony commonly referred to as a “hate crime” — as intentionally injuring, damaging property or threatening someone “because of his or her perception of the victim’s race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or mental, physical or sensory handicap.”

In Seattle a misdemeanor malicious harassment law extends those protections to include gender identity, homelessness, marital status, political ideology, age and parental status.

Detective Beth Wareing investigates bias crimes for the Seattle Police Department and coordinates its response.

She said the department tracks three types of bias:

• Malicious harassment;
• Crimes that have a bias element, such as when hatred toward a protected group or class is a secondary motivation;
• Bias incidents, in which “someone shares their nasty opinion about someone’s membership in these groups.”

Although bias incidents are not crimes, Wareing said tracking them helps SPD understand how people are being treated in a particular area or neighborhood and ensures that someone who feels threatened is heard.

Emphasis added.

So… if you are in Seattle you can’t insult the communists (in some areas you can just close your eyes and point in a random direction to find them) without being at risk of being reported to the police. But perhaps just as important is that if you go for a walk downtown wearing your NRA jacket and/or hat and people express their hatred those haters can be reported as well. Open carry is legal in the state too, but that probably would be considered hunting over bait and the fish and game department generally frowns on that.

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5 thoughts on “Something to keep in mind

  1. Somehow I don’t think that if I wore a MAGA hat to the Pike St. Market, and was called a “F’in NAZI homophobic racist” that it would be tracked as a “Bias incident.” On the other paw, if was in the Capital Hill area and called a Che
    Tee shirt wearing student a “Communist A-hole, who supports murdering millions of people” I’d have an unpleasant conversation with the local gendarmes.

  2. Big difference between “as written” and “as enforced.”
    Sort of like election law in FL, AZ, NM, and most Dem strongholds.

    • As it has always been under Communists. The Soviet constitution had a more broadly and inclusively written freedom of speech clause than the United States Constitution had, but as enforced . . . There is a reason Soviet subjects would say “We have Freedom of Speech, like you, but YOU have freedom After speech.” As thousands in the gulags can bear witness to.

  3. I thought I saw that for big game, the regulations limit bait use to no more than 10 gallons.

    That’s a big NRA hat.

  4. Yes…..wearing a MAGA hat or an NRA jacket and being harassed by the left
    IS a crime under the quoted law. But if you ACTUALLY believe the local PD
    or DA is going to do ANYTHING to ANYONE giving grief to someone wearing
    said attire give me a call. I’ve got some BEACHFRONT PROPERTY east of
    Reno, NV I can sell to you for a great price.

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