H372 - SMETFO

Here’s a new acronym for you from the Minor Heretic: SMETFO. It stands for “Spare Me The False Outrage.”

A friend just sent me a link to a Fox News piece about a bill called H372, an amendment to an existing law, Title 18 USC § 1752. The bill was just passed into law and signed by President Obama. Fox had one Judge Napolitano in the guest pundit’s chair, speaking ominously about the end of free speech and protest as we know it. I looked it up online and the interwebs are clogged with wails of anguish about it from all over the political spectrum. Mostly conservative, though, with an epicenter of outrage at Fox.

Thing is, the body of the bill is 150 years old. In summary, it makes it a felony for people to break into a Secret Service designated security area with a deadly weapon or to significantly injure someone in that area. Jump the White House fence with a gun in your hand and you could face up to ten years in prison. Try to whack Mitt Romney at a press conference, likewise. If you crash the security party unarmed and stay peaceful it’s a misdemeanor.

H347 leaves the offenses and the penalties the same. It cleans up some of the language, mentioning the White House grounds and the Vice President’s residence. It also adds the words “without lawful authority.” The original bill had sloppy wording that, if taken literally, would prohibit anyone, including Michelle Obama, from being inside the Secret Service cordon. Oops.

However, from reviewing the chatter from Right Blogostan (and even Daily Kos) you’d think that some shiny new intrusion on our 1^st Amendment rights was in the offing. There are enough real violations of the Constitution going around right now without manufacturing bogus ones. See the text of the original bill and the amendment, below.

And SMETFO.

Title 18 USC § 1752 - Restricted building or grounds

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person or group of persons—

(1) willfully and knowingly to enter or remain in any posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted area of a building or grounds where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting;

(2) willfully and knowingly to enter or remain in any posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted area of a building or grounds so restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance;

(3) willfully, knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, to engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any building or grounds described in paragraph (1) or (2) when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions;

(4) willfully and knowingly to obstruct or impede ingress or egress to or from any building, grounds, or area described in paragraph (1) or (2); or

(5) willfully and knowingly to engage in any act of physical violence against any person or property in any building, grounds, or area described in paragraph (1) or (2).

(b) Violation of this section, and attempts or conspiracies to commit such violations, shall be punishable by—

(1) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both, if—

(A) the person, during and in relation to the offense, uses or carries a deadly or dangerous weapon or firearm; or

(B) the offense results in significant bodily injury as defined by section (2118)(e)(3); and

(2) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.

(c) Violation of this section, and attempts or conspiracies to commit such violations, shall be prosecuted by the United States attorney in the Federal district court having jurisdiction of the place where the offense occurred.

(d) None of the laws of the United States or of the several States and the District of Columbia shall be superseded by this section.

(e) As used in this section, the term “other person protected by the Secret Service” means any person whom the United States Secret Service is authorized to protect under section 3056 of this title when such person has not declined such protection.

The amendment, H372:

 SEC. 2. RESTRICTED BUILDING OR GROUNDS.

Section 1752 of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

‘(a) Whoever--

‘(1) knowingly enters or remains in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so;

‘(2) knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, engages in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions;

‘(3) knowingly, and with the intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, obstructs or impedes ingress or egress to or from any restricted building or grounds; or

‘(4) knowingly engages in any act of physical violence against any person or property in any restricted building or grounds;

or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).

‘(b) The punishment for a violation of subsection (a) is--

‘(1) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both, if--

‘(A) the person, during and in relation to the offense, uses or carries a deadly or dangerous weapon or firearm; or

‘(B) the offense results in significant bodily injury as defined by section 2118(e)(3); and

‘(2) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.

‘(c) In this section--

‘(1) the term ‘restricted buildings or grounds’ means any posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted area--

‘(A) of the White House or its grounds, or the Vice President’s official residence or its grounds;

‘(B) of a building or grounds where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting; or

‘(C) of a building or grounds so restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance; and

‘(2) the term ‘other person protected by the Secret Service’ means any person whom the United States Secret Service is authorized to protect under section 3056 of this title or by Presidential memorandum, when such person has not declined such protection.’.