Stop Private Militias, Pass the Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act

Please pass H.R. 6981: The Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act, and keep private militias from intimidating or terrorizing voters or government officials. This legislation would prohibit publicly patrolling, drilling, or engaging in harmful or deadly paramilitary activities, interfering with or interrupting government proceedings, interfering with someone else exercising their constitutional rights, falsely assuming the role of law enforcement, and “training to engage in such behavior.” “Private paramilitary actors, such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, pose a serious threat to democracy and the rule of law,” Sen. Markey said in a statement. “We must create new prohibitions on their unauthorized activities that interfere with the exercise of people’s constitutional rights. The forces of bigotry, hatred, and violent extremism must be stopped for the sake of our democracy.” Gun rights organizations and anti-government groups have typically argued that paramilitary activity is constitutionally protected by the Second Amendment’s language about “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State.” However, constitutional experts hold that it is not protected. After the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, a team with Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection sought to examine the legality of the kind of brazen paramilitary activity on display that weekend. They found that all 50 states had some laws on the books, but they were rarely enforced. “Our legislation makes the obvious but essential clarification that these domestic extremists’ paramilitary operations are in no way protected by our Constitution,” Rep Raskin said in a statement.