JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi lawmakers have killed a bill that would have set a prison sentence of up to 10 years for making terroristic threats.
House Bill 1264 defined them as threats of violence made with “intent to terrorize, intimidate or disrupt a governmental function.”
Rep. Dana Criswell, a Republican from Olive Branch, made the motion to ultimately kill the bill Wednesday after it went through House and Senate negotiations. The majority of House members agreed on a voice vote.
Criswell told The Associated Press he thought the bill was too broad and infringed upon First Amendment rights to free speech. Passionate exclamations made with no real intention of terror could be criminally punishable, and he said that went “too far.”
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