Hobbs-Bridges Vigilante Act or the Federal Acts of Criminal Vigilantism (a.k.a. FACV)

image- slammer prison gangster, by sick-street-photography, source pixabay (Processed in Adobe Spark)

No More Doxing

No More Unlawful Assembly

You Are Now A Public Nuisance

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In the early 21st Century, the Governor of the former State of Florida signed into law an ‘anti-riot’ bill. It wouldn’t be until the Presidency of Gilbert Sheppard, during the Ross Perot Period of U.S. Presidents of the Second Age of Humanity, that we would sign a similar act into law at the Federal level.

FACV came into being because of the extensive amount of uncontrolled violent acts against people and property prior to the ratification of the Minority Race Economic Adjustment Amendment. Afterwards there were continual minor acts of vigilante violence, especially as the governments dealt with the natural disaster of the Great Melt and the forced displacement of people. The ultimate catalyst was the Battle in Warrenton​ that proceeded the ratification of the Naturalization Amendment (a.k.a. Immigration Amendment) under President Veronica Simmons. This battle and how President Simmons dealt with it, destroyed all confidence in a civil society for America.

All this violence was claimed to be legitimate under the hospice of the citizen’s arrest code of conduct, and the rights of assembly and free speech. This wasn’t true in many jurisdictions based on the criminal arrests, but lenient judges created a situation that gave license to this behavior.

The Act's Creation

FACV spelled out what made up a person(s) as a vigilante under the Federal code and differentiated it from that of a terrorist. Senator Hobbs and Representative Bridges modeled FACV after the Federal laws dealing with criminal street gangs, but they made changes. During the filibuster on the Senate floor, lengthy speeches were given showing how many of the “vigilante groups” were nothing more than street thugs acting out a “conspiracy to commit an offense” such as “violence or physical force against the person of another.” Other Senators invoked the words of past revolutionaries, and historical figures who had to fight for change against mounting odds. Emphasizing that sometimes that required violence to do so.

This time the nation was not ideologically split on this issue. An overwhelming majority knew of the violence that proceeded the passing of the Minority Race Economic Adjustment Amendment, as well as the violence with the passing of the Naturalization Amendment. They thought American society had gone too far and something new was needed to help quell this problem. FACV in the end was best legal solution too many. It was because of this broad support, and too many key Senate seats were up for reelection, that the filibuster attempt in the Senate failed.

What the Act Did

FACV made it illegal for an individual member of a vigilante group, or a vigilante group itself to gather intelligence on a business, government, or individual. Only those states which provided those powers to perform citizen’s arrests could perform what used to be known as “doxing.” Other crimes included “tagging” or the use of graffiti; Flash mobbing or illegally assembling in the name of a protest; Verbally abusing or insulting individuals with incendiary speech to provoke a violent reaction; and creating a public nuisance in a community through any form of property destruction, harassment, or even the use of the social media net to berate a community or specific person or entity in a community.

FACV also included more grave acts dealing with exploitation, money laundering, and other violent crimes such as murder or conspiracy to commit murder. FACV was all in compassing in describing any possible attributable crimes to vigilantes and their organizations. The act required in all states that standards be adopted for making individuals licensed to perform what was under the behaviors of a citizen’s arrest. No longer could any person detain another. Exceptions were made for bonafide news media covered under the freedom of press, as well as certain forms of free speech covered by previous Supreme Court decisions.

The initial penalties for FACV were considered a felony with an automatic penalty of 50 years in prison with no chance of parole and no chance of bail. Supreme Court struck the last two provisions down, and Congress changed the act to include a parole procedure and a minimum bail set at $1 million USD. Otherwise, all other provisions were upheld by the Supreme Court allowing states to develop a new class of citizen-based policing.

FACV provided the Ranger Marshals, and other Federal policing agencies, a greater number of legal abilities in bringing up charges against those they suspected were vigilantes. It would be from the FACV that Pattyroller licensing was adopted in all other states to retrieve rogue androids. This was despite four Southern states (GA, AL, LA, and TX) and the northern states of Ohio and Pennsylvania having a Pattyroller-like license on the books since the creation of the A-3 androids.

Note-

Ross Perot Period of U.S. Presidents–This period was named after Henry Ross Perot by historians because his 1992 campaign had at one point created a three-way split in the polls. In theory, if he had won enough electoral votes, it would have been the first time since 1877 that Congress would had to decide on a president. For it’s during this period that 10 sequential presidential electoral cycles would have to be determined by Congress. This was because of the amount of political party division in the U.S.