Tougher intimidation laws needed

America has broad protections for offensive and even blasphemous speech - as it should. The Constitution quite rightly does not give us freedom from insult. This fine land also has wide safeguards for the right to bear arms - as it should. Weakening the First Amendment - or the Second - should be off the table forever.

But since when is it constitutionally protected to intimidate someone on the basis of their religion or ethnicity? When speech and actions cross the line into outright threats, how is it not a criminal matter?

As right-wing hatemonger Pamela Geller has stepped up her campaign against Muslims, it's gotten out of control in Phoenix, Arizona. Last week, a group of bikers held a rally against the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix. Two gunmen who attacked a Geller appearance in Texas had attended this mosque, but there's no evidence the mosque supported violence like this. Conducting a protest against the Islamic Community Center over that attack would be like if I had held a protest against a local church because a classmate who went to mass there assaulted me.

The more important point is this: The bikers were armed and appeared right outside the mosque at the same time the mosque was having worship services. If any of these conditions weren't met, they'd probably be in the clear legally, even though I disagreed with what they said. But they managed to select a precise combination of circumstances that was designed to openly threaten the mosque.

Some states have specific laws on religious and ethnic intimidation. If Arizona has such a law, how does this not violate it? It's hard to see how the event wouldn't put people in fear of actual injury. I think that was the intent of the event.

Make no mistake: If the Texas gunmen had survived, they should have been punished. But their actions do not excuse legislators and prosecutors who are soft at fighting against religious intimidation. There is no constitutional prohibition against toughening the intimidation laws. Indeed, America is obligated to pass and enforce laws against religious intimidation under international human rights law. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights obligates the United States to act. For America to act is mandatory - not voluntary.

Why should we value the "rights" of violent bigots like the bikers in this story over the rights of those who are threatened by them? Religious intimidation is actually a form of censorship. It threatens its victims into silence.

Insult and offense go with the territory in our constitutional system. Intimidation and violence should not.