Trump says he will label violence on Tesla dealerships as domestic terrorism : law

Finally, someone actually addressing the legal question in /r/law

It's defined in 18 USC 2331(5):

(5) the term "domestic terrorism" means activities that-

(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;

(B) appear to be intended-

(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States;

Whether this constitutes terrorism then depends on what status Elon Musk has.

Let's say for the sake of argument that these acts are dangerous to human life (although obviously spray painting a swastika on a dealership isn't ). If he is just a private citizen, then he clearly doesn't qualify as "a civilian population". He's just one person. And if he is a private citizen, then intimidating him cannot be expect to impact the policy of a government.

On the other hand, if he is an officer of the United States, then it's possible those acts would satisfy this definition.

But then of course he would need to be confirmed by the senate.

redditors wilfully ignoring the fact that dealerships are being shot up, set on fire, and one person was even caught with explosives

whether or not musk is classed as a civilian, trying to blow up tesla dealerships is obviously attempting to coerce people to not buy them (even ignoring the threats that get sent to current tesla owners and the vandalism of peoples personal vehicles) as well as clearly trying to send a message to coerce the US gov to remove musk's involvement

so it meets (a) (b.i) (b.ii) and (c), therefore it's domestic terrorism and your little gotcha about whether musk is a civilian is irrelevant /u/entered_bubble_50

wow. i guess all violent protestors are terrorists

I love that libs have embraced the most conservative "blame the r*pe victim" line ever

whats funny is that if they went full and looted/robbed the tesla dealership itd be harder to place terrorism chafges bc itd muddy the intent/ mens rea

!slotsmb222

>dumping tea into a harbor

The far-left groups of the 70s killed more black people.

18, Necessary and Proper, would probably be the argument. That's the justification for criminal drug scheduling and tax evasion being a crime