‘Bystander Protection Act’ to provide stiffer sentencing
Assemblyman James Tedisco, R-Glenville, is seeking enhanced penalties for those who injure or kill a member of the public during an attack on a representative. The legislation he is drafting is partly in response to a threatening email he received on Friday, April 1, that was also sent to other lawmakers and the media.
The email, titled Time to Kill, is currently being investigated by State Police. According to law enforcement, the emails are similar in content. The state Office of Counter Terrorism deemed the threats not credible, but police are treating it as a serious threat and are not releasing further information at this time.
In response to the email, Tedisco is drafting the legislation, known as the `Bystander Protection Act.`
`History tells us that attacks on elected officials, such as what happened to Congresswoman (Gabrielle) Giffords, can also lead to the injury or death of innocent bystanders,` said Tedisco in a statement. `Clearly, the most important voices in our democracy are not elected officials, but the citizens who give us the honor to serve them. This legislation more fully indicates the importance of their voices and more fully protects those who wish to interact in public with their elected officials.`
Elected representatives, he said, are aware of the risk taken when running for office and the threat of violence, but ensuring the freedom to publicly exchange ideas is important to maintain.
A final draft of the bill isn’t completed, but the focus is to increase prison time. Along with Tedisco, fellow Republican Assemblymen Steve McLaughlin and Andrew Raia will introduce the completed bill.
`There shouldn’t be any violence against anybody, but what this bills says is if you injure a constituent that is interacting in our democracy, the penalty will be heightened,` said Tedisco. `We take on this job knowing people are going to be angry with some things we do.`
The email received by state legislators was sent from more than one email address, said Adam Kramer, spokesman for Tedisco, but the text appeared to be the same.
The sender claimed to be a state worker and said he thought of pulling out a gun and killing his co-workers, but said it wouldn’t provide him with `enough satisfaction.` In the email he also calls himself a terrorist.
`Understand with whom you are dealing. I am not crazy. I am a terrorist,` read the email. `You’ll have to kill us to stop us.`
Later in the email, the sender said possibly attacking a school bus would send the public in an uproar with the goal to create anarchy. Earlier in the message the sender said `my group` would try to provoke other fringe individuals to its crusade.
The message ends: `Give me a chance to pull a Gabby Giffords.`
Tedisco said he isn’t treating this email as a joke.
`I think it was probably one of the most negative and terror-related type of response I have ever gotten,` said Tedisco. `I was surprised to see that level, and if it was supposed to be a practical joke, it is an act of terrorism. It threatens our interchange of ideas.`
Police Lt. Glenn Miner said on Monday, April 11, the investigation continues into the threatening emails.
`No due developments at this point and time that we can discuss,` said Miner. `We usually can’t get into any details about it cause it could obviously jeopardize the investigation.“
