“Domestic terrorism is a major threat to our personal safety and to the wellbeing of our democracy.”

That’s how I began the oral testimony on my bill to create a task force on preventing and countering domestic terrorism.

“That attack, that siege, was criminal behavior, plain and simple, and it was behavior that we, the F.B.I., view as domestic terrorism. “It’s got no place in our democracy,” declared Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI, testifying before the Congress.

My written testimony began with that quote.

“Would your bill apply to Antifa?” asked a Republican member of the Judiciary Committee.

“If the definition of domestic terrorism that the task force proposed and the legislature adopted applied to the criminal acts of that group or any other group, it would,” I responded.

A member of the public spoke against the bill, concerned that it would be used unlawfully against liberal groups.

“We would need to enact guard rails on police conduct to prevent that,” I replied.

Last year, I introduced House Bill, 1164, Criminal Law – Domestic Terrorism.

It did not pass.

I suggested to Delegate Clippinger, chair of  the committee, that he write to the director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security, asking him to report on the state’s “efforts and plans to prevent, detect, and address domestic terrorism.”

That letter was sent on May 11, 2020.  It has yet to be answered.