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What is 'swatting,' the 'criminal harassment' hoax that's hit 3 GOP lawmakers since Christmas?
Fox News ^ | 12/29/23 | Houston Keene

Posted on 12/29/2023 2:47:35 AM PST by Libloather

Three Republican lawmakers have been the target of "swatting" at their homes since Christmas Day, with a legal expert calling the act "criminal harassment."

"Swatting" is a crime that has become prominent in recent years, gaining more steam in the social media age when people's addresses are easily accessible.

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News Digital that swatting is a crime that could be "charged as a form of criminal threats."

"Swatting constitutes a false police report that can be criminally charged," Turley said. "Virginia recently passed a new law making swatting specifically a criminal misdemeanor. It can also be charged as a form of criminal threats."

"This is a crime that flourishes because there is insufficient deterrent," Turley continued. "The anonymity and rare prosecutions combine to fuel this form of criminal harassment."

"There is no mystery to how to address these crimes. There must be greater detection and penalties to achieve deterrence," he added.

The crime targets an individual by calling in a false police report for a violent crime — such as a murder, a hostage situation or other crimes that would require a greater law enforcement response — to the home of the target.

The goal of the false police report is to elicit a SWAT team response by the police to the target's home.

Consequently, swatting draws police resources away from real crimes while the state becomes the unwitting arm to terrorize a person at their own home.

Now, national leaders are being targeted by swatters who have sent the police to their homes.

Since Christmas, three Republican lawmakers — Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and Reps. Brandon Williams of New York and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — have been victims of swatting at their homes.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; History; Local News
KEYWORDS: attemptedmurder; gop; hoax; lawmakers; swatting
Have to be honest - it would be a very pleasant event watching Pedo Pete get swatted because of the chicom bribes.
1 posted on 12/29/2023 2:47:35 AM PST by Libloather
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To: Libloather

Not ‘harrassment’...attempted murder. The progressives are playing word games...again.


2 posted on 12/29/2023 2:52:13 AM PST by who knows what evil? (Hospitals are the most dangerous place on Earth! Dr. David Williams)
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To: Libloather

The same people who do this will be the same people to egregiously abuse red flag laws.


3 posted on 12/29/2023 3:00:43 AM PST by MachIV
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To: who knows what evil?

And a form of terrorism.


4 posted on 12/29/2023 3:25:28 AM PST by FreedomForce
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To: Libloather
Go ahead. Here's where he is. The parasite is vacationing,
mooching off this billionaire's estate in St Croix, VI.


5 posted on 12/29/2023 3:49:14 AM PST by Liz (WRT govt: qualifications for wrecking crews are not as stringent as those for construction crews.)
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To: who knows what evil?

It’s not as if lawmakers haven’t known about this, it’s just that it hasn’t affected them until recently.

In 2017 there was a horribly sad case in Wichita, KS where a man was killed by the police who had been sent to his address by a swatter who was mad at a third party over a video game outcome in which he lost $1.50. The victim’s only crime was living in a house the instigator had been evicted from the previous year.

Subsequently, two different pieces of legislation have been introduced in Congress to try get a handle on this type of action, one died in a subcommittee and the other has just been laying in the subcommittee since 2019.

See: 2017 Wichita swatting/Legal Response - Wikipedia


6 posted on 12/29/2023 3:56:59 AM PST by LSAggie
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To: Libloather

Only used against Republicans…enough said!


7 posted on 12/29/2023 4:11:41 AM PST by Brandonmark (November 2024 cannot come soon enough!)
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To: Libloather

This should be a major felony not a misdemeanor.


8 posted on 12/29/2023 4:25:43 AM PST by circlecity
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To: FreedomForce

Democrat terrorism


9 posted on 12/29/2023 5:17:15 AM PST by Ronald77
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To: Libloather

Swatting is simply an over reaction from our over militarized police. These idiots can’t wait to arrive guns drawn etc.


10 posted on 12/29/2023 5:19:48 AM PST by Dandy (Drain the swamp baby!!!)
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To: who knows what evil?

This.


11 posted on 12/29/2023 5:27:16 AM PST by sauropod (The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly.)
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To: sauropod

I would have done that if B.J. was with one of his girlfriends.
Tell the cops there was drug dealing going on. They show up with guns drawn.


12 posted on 12/29/2023 5:39:44 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: Liz

His actual vacation home is the white house. He visits it once in awhile.


13 posted on 12/29/2023 5:55:34 AM PST by pas
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To: pas

Hah.......good one.


14 posted on 12/29/2023 6:03:00 AM PST by Liz (WRT govt: qualifications for wrecking crews are not as stringent as those for construction crews.)
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To: Libloather

Eventually, some company will innovate “SWAT insurance”, in which anonymous calls to the police about *them* will be flagged, delaying any police response.

The company will do any number of things in just a few minutes, including contacting those being SWATTED, looking at a live video taken inside their home, listening for any “duress passwords”, attempting to track down the anonymous caller, etc.

It is a formative idea, so it would be up to some entrepreneurs to flesh it out into a service.

And it only works if there is legislation to make such acts as SWATTING felony crimes.


15 posted on 12/29/2023 6:10:01 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("All he had was a handgun. Why did you think that was a threat?" --Rittenhouse Prosecutor)
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To: who knows what evil?

Marjorie Taylor Greene was swatted on Christmas Day.
Imagine that.


16 posted on 12/29/2023 6:14:08 AM PST by Texas resident (Biden=Obama=Jarrett=Soros)
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To: Libloather

It’s attempted murder. The perp assumes the innocent party will confront the police and be killed.


17 posted on 12/29/2023 6:16:44 AM PST by I want the USA back (Democracy dies when you take away from those who work and give to those who won't. Khrushchev.)
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To: Libloather

This crime needs to have a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison with no parole. Period.


18 posted on 12/29/2023 6:27:06 AM PST by Shady (The Force of Liberty must prevail for the sake of our Children and Grandchildren...)
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To: Libloather

Swatting is nothing less than attempted murder, and the perps should be hunted down, tried, convicted and left to rot in jail for many years.


19 posted on 12/29/2023 6:59:33 AM PST by Ancesthntr (“The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.” ― A.E. Van Vogt, The Weapons Shops of Isher)
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To: Libloather

It is done to Republicans only, because if it were done to a Democrat, the FBI would try to catch the perps.


20 posted on 12/29/2023 7:42:15 AM PST by UnwashedPeasant (The pandemic we suffer from is not COVID. It is Marxist Democrat Leftism.)
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