Just days after calling on the Justice Department to prosecute statue vandals, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is now proposing a bill to make a conviction hold a mandatory minimum one-year prison sentence.
"Vandals are defacing and tearing down statues of our esteemed forefathers such as George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant with reckless abandon," Cotton wrote in a statement announcing his legislative proposal.
"At a minimum they should face one year in prison for this crime."
Cotton's legislation is called the Washington-Grant Historic Preservation Act.
It amends the Veterans' Memorial Preservation Act to provide for a one-year mandatory minimum prison sentence for those who injure or destroy monuments dedicated to America's most gallant heroes.
Cotton is one of the Senate's most fierce defenders of American history and property amid the George Floyd protests.
"It's past time to stop the mob; these vandals should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Cotton wrote in a letter to Attorney General William Barr earlier this week. "Unfortunately, local authorities, who normally would prosecute such crimes, have proven unwilling in many cases to uphold the rule of law.
"In some cities, it appears that feckless politicians have directed police to stand idly by while mobs rampage.
"Thus, I urge the Department of Justice to bring charges against these criminals."
Cotton's call came after an impassioned speech on the Senate floor Monday, rebuking vandals.
"We cannot tolerate mob rule and we cannot allow it to go unpunished," Cotton said in his Senate speech. "While local authorities would usually take the lead in prosecuting these crimes, unfortunately many of them seem unwilling to stand up to the mob and uphold the rule of the law."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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