Arkansas Steps Up Against Antifa

by Christopher Holton: The Arkansas legislature recently stepped up to provide law enforcement and its criminal justice system with key tools to protect the constitution and citizens from the Antifa insurrection that continues to rear its ugly head across America.

Similar to action taken in Florida, the Arkansas legislature focused on specific tactics, techniques and methods that Antifa uses to sow violence, chaos and destruction.

Representative Karilyn Brown and Senator Alan Clark sponsored important legislation, which will no doubt prove useful for law enforcement as the 2022 mid-term elections approach.

House Bill 1508 (HB1508), which was signed into law as Act 1014, clarifies and toughens rioting statutes, provides extra protection for first responders, protects public and private property and also clarifies and toughens statutes against obstruction of roadways.

As a direct response to Antifa’s barbaric tactics, Act 1014 puts a finer point on existing battery and aggravated assault laws to protect first responders by adding to the statute that battery and assault includes when “a person knowingly causes physical contact with a first responder by spitting, throwing, or otherwise transferring bodily fluids, pathogens, or human waste onto the person of the first responder…or by throwing an object such as a brick, rock, bottle, projectile, firework, chemical agent, or explosive device that a reasonable person knows or should know could cause physical injury if the object struck the first responder.”

Perhaps most importantly, the new Act assigns mandatory minimum sentences and requires that the offender serve at least the minimum sentence before being released from prison.

Along the same lines, thanks to Act 1014, a person convicted of rioting or aggravated rioting shall be sentenced to a minimum of 30-45 days of imprisonment for which the defendant is required to serve at least 30-45 days before being released from imprisonment and shall be ordered to pay restitution for any physical injury, damage, or loss incurred as a result of the offense.

In other words, Arkansas does not intend to permit a revolving door for justice courtesy radical Soros-funded district attorneys, as has been common in areas where Antifa are rampant.

Like new laws in other states, Arkansas’ Act 1014 makes it a crime to obstruct a highway or other public passage. This is particularly important as blocking roads and highways has been a significant tactic with a high degree of probability of resulting in violence. But Arkansas also instituted a unique provision as part of Act 1014 that amends the state’s existing terrorism statute. The definition of “act of terrorism”, is amended to read as follows: any act that causes substantial damage to any hospital or any building, or facility, or monument used, owned, or maintained by: the United States Government, State government, any unit of local government, a national defense contractor, a public utility; or a manufacturer of chemical or biological products used in or in connection with agricultural production or storage.

Once again, this provision is in direct response to crimes of violence and destruction committed by Antifa as part of its Maoist-style cultural revolution targeting American historical monuments across America, including on the Arkansas capitol grounds in 2020.

Arkansas should be congratulated for this bold new measure to maintain law and order in our increasingly chaotic political landscape.
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Christopher Horton is a senior analyst and Director of State Outreach for Center for Security Policy.

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