The Conservative Nation

HR 347 – Is This The First Step To Limiting Free Speech?

The president just “secretly” signed into law, a bill, HR347, which will allow prosecutors to charge anyone who enters a building without permission or with the intent to disrupt a government function with a federal offense, if the Secret Service is on the scene. However, the law stretches to include not just the president’s palatial Pennsylvania Avenue home. Under the law, any building or grounds where the president is visiting — even temporarily — is covered, as is any building or grounds “restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance.”
Section (c) of the act defines the key phrase “restricted buildings” as follows:

The phrase “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

Under the terms of the existing law amended by this act, the Department of Homeland Security, affectionately referred to as “Big Sis” by Matt Drudge, is tasked with deciding which events will qualify as being of “national significance.”
There have been nearly three dozen events in all which have been considered a National Special Security Event (NSSE) since the term was created under President Clinton. Among past events on the DHS-sanctioned NSSE list are Super Bowl XXXVI, the funerals of Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, most State of the Union addresses and the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

Surely this law will be challenged all the way to the Supreme Court and found to be unconstitutional. While the bill is scarey enough on its own, what’s even more alarming is that it passed with bipartisan support in both houses.