Recognizing Law Enforcement Officers Across the Country
Floor Speech
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Mr. DAVIDSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support our First Amendment. I want to support the ability of people to assemble peaceably, but I also want to address the mobs that we have seen in our streets and, fundamentally, to defend our police.
What is it that the mob wants? It is hard to answer. There is a disparate set of views. Some have called them anarchists. They don't really have anarchy in mind; they just don't agree on which leftwing ideology they want to support. But they also are obeying their leaders. They are doing what their leaders have sent them to do.
One of our House colleagues, in June of 2018, said: ``You get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them, and you tell them they are not welcome anymore, anywhere.''
Isn't that exactly what the mob is doing? Little old ladies trying to have a meal on a sidewalk here in our Nation's Capital have people shouting at them--mob intimidation.
And it gets much worse, as my colleague, Mrs. Wagner, just highlighted. Nine police officers shot just in St. Louis alone. We all saw the horrific attacks in Los Angeles over the weekend--unprovoked, unjustified, unjustifiable, indefensible, yet people defend them and are reluctant to condemn them. This is what the mob is doing.
This is not the First Amendment. This is not the right of the people to assemble peaceably. And our law enforcement protect that right. They defend freedom. They protect and defend our communities. They do it heroically with bravery every day and, so often, thanklessly.
We are right to give them thanks. They put their lives in harm's way. And they call out their colleagues when they can when they break the trust of their departments.
We do need to reform some laws. We do need to hold some individuals accountable, but the idea that we can lay at the feet of all police these charges that are made is abhorrent.
So we need to defend our police. We need to defend our First Amendment freedoms to assemble peaceably, and we need to reject the cries of the mobs.
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