If these thugs are not being arrested today for participating in a riot, or for the crimes against persons and property that goes along with it, how will their behavior change when you create a new penalty for doing so while wearing a mask?Charles L. Cotton wrote: ↑Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:36 amWearing a mask or other disguise while committing a crime makes identification of a criminal next to impossible. Why do some of you want to protect people who are engaging in criminal activity? Are you that anti-government?
Wearing a mask is not like passing a law that tells criminals to obey the law. If, while wearing a mask, you are part of a mob that assaults someone, then you can be arrested/convicted/imprisoned for being part of the mod while wearing a mask. Wearing a mask is not like "cosmetic crimes" such having a pistol grip or flash suppressor on a semi-auto rifle. Neither of those features are necessary to the firing of a rifle. Wearing a mask while participating in mob crimes are mission-critical for most cowards in the crowd. They are present only because they can do so anonymously.
Chas.
If the reality was that lots and lots of arrests were made at these events and the shame of it was that some thugs escaped identification because they were wearing masks, I'd be a "maybe" on adding a mask enhancement. As it is today, hardly anyone is being arrested. Unless you make it illegal to show up wearing a mask before the crimes are committed (pre-crime!) I don't see how a mask enhancement is a deterrent when we're not even arresting a meaningful portion of the criminal actors for crimes already on the books.
If I show up to participate in an Antifa riot, and nobody starts arresting me, am I really going to leave my mask at home so this law can make it easier for the police to ID me from video and catch me later? Will the police arrest more rioters solely because the penalty for the crime was bigger? I hope the answer is no on that.