LI Pols Put Forward Law To Criminalize Making Terroristic Threats

Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas and state Sen. Todd Kaminsky announced a new law on Monday morning that would make make it a crime to make terroristic threats. Current loopholes in state law, the two say, don't have sufficient consequences for those who threaten to harm others.

The two say the law springs from the court decision People v. Hulsen, in which the court found that a school employee’s alleged statement to a faculty member that she “better be absent the day they fire me because I’m going to come in here and Columbine this s**t,” was legally insufficient to support a charge of Making a Terroristic Threat. The charges were dismissed and the defendant later requested the return of the guns seized by police, which included an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, an FN Herstal PS-90 semi-automatic rifle and a Mossberg 500A shotgun.

The legislation proposed by Singas and Kaminsky creates the new crimes of Making a Threat of Mass Harm (a Class A misdemeanor) and Aggravated Threat of Mass Harm (a Class E felony), which would close the loophole and hold those who make threats accountable for their words.

“School threats have skyrocketed since the Parkland tragedy causing lockdowns, panic, and have diverted law enforcement resources from their lifesaving work,” Singas said. “We need stronger laws that criminalize phony threats and protect our communities from the horrific violence that has stolen so many lives.”

Singas' office drafted the legislation, which has been introduced by Kaminsky into the Senate and will be introduced by Assemblywoman Christine Pellegrino in the Assembly.

Those convicted of Making a Threat of Mass Harm would face up to a year in jail. Those convicted of Aggravated Threat of Mass Harm, an elevated charge for individuals who make an overt act to commit the threatened harm — such as making a plan, compiling a target list, or possessing any weapon or device — would face up to four years in prison. If passed by both houses of the legislature and signed by the governor, the laws would take effect immediately.

“Law enforcement needs every available tool to protect our schools and communities from mass shootings and other violence," said Kaminsky. "The fact that someone in our state could say that he is going to ‘Columbine’ a school and yet police are nearly powerless to take action shows that our laws needs strengthening. This bill will allow law enforcement to arrest those who make threats of mass harm, and, importantly, provides them a basis to seize weapons from perpetrators of these threats.”

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