” “It is absolutely, absolutely unacceptable to shoot indiscriminately. Target only politicians and their staff and leave regular citizens alone.” “
Sorry - I don’t see a “threat”, in that quote (which, granted, is the only part of his original article available) - where does he say “I will...” or “You must...”
This is, at worst, bad mannered - and stupid - hyperbole, and, in truth, much milder than you’d hear in a barroom on any given Saturday night....
Did you ever study basic sentence structure in grade school? The subject is implied, and the implied subject is you.
If you don’t see the threat there, you may be as nutty as the idiot who made it
What part of “Target only politicians and their staff...” (in the clear context of “shooting” from the previous sentence), do you not understand?
What if one of the 7 members of your immediate family was murdered by a street gang, and then one of the gang members wrote:
“Seven down, six to go” and
“It is absolutely, absolutely unacceptable to shoot indiscriminately. Target only Uncle Ike and his family members and their staff and leave their neighbors alone.”
That wouldn’t be a threat, and you’d be outraged if they took the guys weapons, right?
Notice that I did not stop at saying that the 1st Amendent didn’t apply to threats. I also, clearly, stated that incitement was also off the table, and yes, his statements are certainly an incitement to violence.