Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Constitutional Issues Impossible Possibilities?

After a video posted on Facebook showed a group of people shouting epithets at former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory during his trip to D.C. for inaugural weekend, a state senator from North Carolina has proposed legislation that would insulate public officials from verbal criticism.

Sen. Dan Bishop of Charlotte told a Raleigh newspaper he plans on introducing legislation that would “make it a crime to threaten, intimidate, or retaliate against a present or former North Carolina official in the course of, on account of, the performance of his or her duties.”

Bishop reportedly called the group of people yelling at McCrory in the video “a chanting mob” and “ubiquitous leftist rioters.” He even suggested that the people maybe have “stalked him.” Bishop argued that such behavior warrants a five-year prison sentence.