Why is it illegal to threaten someones life online, but not illegal to show up to their home armed?

To threaten someone’s life is assault. Showing up armed with no real or implied intent is nothing, no threat.

@kritiper Do you actually believe that or are you just stating their side?
I personally feel it’s an immediate threat and the police should haul them off.

By itself, being armed isn’t making a threat.

By itself, going places armed isn’t a threat.

Intimidating people while armed, may imply a threat. It depends on the social context.

Showing up in an armed group at the home of an official to protest their official positions, does seem to me as an intent to intimidate and imply a threat of violence to them personally, and possibly their family.

Even not being a government official, if I saw a group of dozens of armed people walking around just about anywhere but a known event such as a gun show or a historical reenactment or something, I’d tend to immediately report it to the police. If they were actually coming to my house, yeah, I’d figure I needed to assume they might mean to do violence.

If they were “people angry over President Trump’s election loss”... I’d be looking for legal reasons to get them all thrown in prison for as long as possible, and trying to educate as much of the country as possible that that’s completely not acceptable.

I’d also want to interview all of them for where they got the idea to do this, and be seeing who can be charged for sedition.

Drumpf supporters are sending death threats to politicians, election officials, and election workers, and then an armed goon squad of brown shirts shows up in front of your house?
Yeah, I would call that “implied intent”.

I guess we could nitpick the finer legal points of this incident all day, but if a group of armed people showed up outside my home shouting obscenities and chanting into a bullhorn I’d certainly feel threatened.

@chyna At face value, (this exact instance as stated) considering the legal stance, no law is being broken, no threats made.

@kritiper I know legally no law is being broken but I thought threats also depend on the receiver. The targetted her home as a place to protest and had weapons. Anyone of reasonable mind would feel threatened. You go to people work place, to protest. Not people’s homes. Tell me that 4-year-old didn’t feel frightened hearing people yell obscenities to his mom? If I had a 4-year-old at home I would feel intimidated that they came to my private home where they know I would feel most vulnerable.

This isn’t an accident. It is their intent. If they had no intention of frightening or intimidating her then they wouldn’t have shown up at her home and shown up with weapons. And last I looked intimidating a public official is a felony. They are trying to get her to do something illegal by overtly threatening her family. And apparently, she has been receiving threats as well. How is she to know that the ones who made the threats aren’t in the crowd?

I’d see it as they’re fucking cowards. Cowards because they know that when she is home with her child, she’s very vulnerable. If they went to her work, they’d not get past security with their weapons, and they’d be subject to scrutiny by law enforcement.

@Pandora A bunch of towns people may perceive a jailed main as a threat and hang him in response. Was justice properly served?
I might have a gun on me and a threat could be perceived, but If I make no vocal threat, if I don’t draw the gun and point it at someone, should I be hung because of this perceived threat? Anyone can perceive whatever they want but if there is no actual threat, no law is broken. Yes, the gun is a threat, but is it an actual threat, the same as a verbal threat? There is a fine line here but one mustn’t assume or one could break the law in the assumption.

I was carrying a BB gun back from a friend’s house one day when a neighbor told me that someone had called the police and reported me. Said I had a gun. I wasn’t pointing it at anyone. Was I breaking the law?

Maybe time to teach these jerk offs that they aren’t the only people with guns.

@kritiper Someone walking past your home on the way somewhere else carrying a gun and doesn’t even know you or have any business with you and is carrying a gun is not a perceived threat. Even walking by a park, or going in a restaurant to buy some food is not a perceived threat. I’m fine with people carrying weapons. But when a group of people go the extra mile to find out where you live to protest while carrying weapons, then I don’t think it was a coincidence, nor do I think a peaceful protest with people carrying weapons is meant to be without the intent of intimidation at the very least. It could be the only reason why they were peaceful was because police were already on the scene.
By the way, you forget Zimmerman who got away with killing Trayvon who didn’t even carry a weapon. Zimmerman shot an killed an unarmed young man because Zimmerman said he felt his life was being threatened. Zimmerman (who had a gun) got away with cold blooded murder. You know you would feel threatened if you were in her shoes. Especially after all the quacks to planned to kidnap and kill Whitmer. Too many crack pots in the world and Trump supporters are the most likely to have crackpots in the group.

I can pretty much guarantee you that none in the crowd were black or their asses would have gone straight to jail (if they were lucky)

@SEKA or shot because they looked threatening.

Hell Bubba ain’t no threat, a good old boy can’t kill no deer without no scud missile launcher. And gots to keep them commies in line.

@Pandora You may think any way you like, but the law has not been broken by someone who is merely possessing a gun. To act against someone who is not breaking the law or who has not broken the law is taking the law into your own hands (mob mentality) and that IS against the law. But, again, you may think any way you like…

@kritiper Then why did the cops kill a 12 y/o black boy with a bb gun? They claimed that they saw him as a danger