Louisiana makes targeting cops a 'hate crime'

I know you want to cheer for this, and I understand why. The #BlackLivesMatter movement is not only making police out to be racist thugs, but they're getting cheered on by the media and no small number of politicians in so doing. The response from police that #BlueLivesMatter is not only appropriate but far more pertinent considering that most of the time police are accused of racist attacks on blacks they have engaged in nothing of the sort, while the effort to tar all cops is intentional and insidious. But I'm not so sure about what Louisiana did yesterday, and it's not because I don't like a law that give special protection to cops. I'm all over that. But this "hate crime" business? Eh . . .

Louisiana’s governor signed a first-of-its-kind bill Thursday afternoon that makes it a hate crime to target police officers and first responders. Called the “Blue Lives Matter” bill, the measure expands the state’s hate crime law to include law enforcement officers, firefighters and other emergency medical services personnel. “The overarching message is that hate crimes will not be tolerated in Louisiana,” Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards told FoxNews.com in a written statement. He added that he has “great respect” for the work that law enforcement officers do and the daily risks they take. “I thought it was critical that we add protections for the people that protect us,” state Rep. Lance Harris, a Republican, told FoxNews.com. Harris authored the bill after the murder of Darren Goforth, a 47-year-old Texas sheriff who was gunned down at a gas station “because he wore a uniform.”

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I've never much cared for the idea of the "hate crime." The problem is with the implication that a violent crime against someone when it's not personal is less objectionable than one committed because you "hate" them, or more to the point I guess, because you hate the group with which they are associated. I'm thinking that once you get to the point where you're willing to murder someone in cold blood, any serious line between "hate" and whatever else might have motivated you is pretty much irrelevant. The crime deserves the maximum penalty regardless of the motive. In fact, I'd say you're better off not elevating certain motives over others and thus giving killers a potential argument for lenience. What Rep. Harris has done here is play the left's game. He's completely accepted the left's proposition that some special groups deserve more protection than other groups from "hate," and merely engaged in debate over which special groups are most deserving. That's an argument the left will have all day long, because group identity politics is what they're all about. None of which means police shouldn't receive special protection. Because of their importance to a safe society, not to mention their unique vulnerability, they absolutely should. Killing a police officer should carry double or triple the maximum sentence you'd get for killing anyone else - which of course should be an extremely stiff sentence all its own. But not because it's a "hate crime" and we're particularly horrified by violence motivated by "hate." Killing a cop should bring harsher penalties because killing a cop is simply a more egregious crime. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Louisiana Republicans have just given a big wet sloppy to #BlackLivesMatter. I hope it helps protect police officers, but I don't think this was the best way to do it.