Wait a minute, slick. A similar petition to declare Antifa a domestic terrorist organization was signed by 368,423 people back in 2017. It far surpassed its goal of 100,000 to receive a response from the White House. That response read in part:
"Although Federal law provides a mechanism to designate and sanction foreign terrorist organizations and foreign state sponsors of terrorism, there is currently no analogous mechanism for formally designating domestic terrorist organizations.Additionally in 2017, FBI, Homeland Security warn of more ‘antifa’ attacks.
Nonetheless, law enforcement has many tools at its disposal to address violent individuals and groups. The Department of Justice routinely charges violent individuals, of all types, with a variety of offenses, including arson, threats, fraud, tax violations, hate crimes, murder, and offenses related to the misuse or illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Thank you, again, for contacting the White House."
"Federal authorities have been warning state and local officials since early 2016 that leftist extremists known as “antifa” had become increasingly confrontational and dangerous, so much so that the Department of Homeland Security formally classified their activities as “domestic terrorist violence,” according to interviews and confidential law enforcement documents obtained by POLITICO."'Classified their activities as “domestic terrorist violence”' appears to be distinct from 'domestic terrorist organization.' However, this strikes me as a fig leaf in an attempt to address the symptom, but not the cause, much like the 'war on terror' is a fig leaf to avoid saying 'Islamists' when speaking about the actual perpetrators of global terrorism.
It's frustrating because these violent, masked Marxists of AntiFa in Portland still roam the streets with near impunity - as if aided by those at City Hall - to terrorize and attack anyone deemed 'the other.' So, what good will another White House petition do to arrest these criminals?
Recently, Sen. Ted Cruz(R) publicly condemned Antifa’s behavior on Twitter and called for an investigation into local leadership for looking the other way. Perhaps a petition addressed to Congress to pass a law defining & establishing a category for domestic terrorist organizations is in order. Or perhaps what's lacking is simply the stones to wield the tools already on the books to crush these violent, masked Marxists of AntiFa.
