Our view: Violence chills First Amendment rights to free speech, assembly and petition – Joplin Globe

On Saturday, abortion rights advocates met at the intersection of Seventh Street and Range Line Road in Joplin to exercise several of their First Amendment rights: the right to free speech, the right to peaceably assemble and the right to petition the government.

A group of anti-abortion advocates soon joined them on another corner of the busy intersection, exercising those same rights.

But according to social media and police reports, the rallies turned violent when the two sides clashed, and an individual who was supporting the anti-abortion side was arrested and cited by Joplin police for alleged misdemeanor assault of at least one abortion rights protester.

This violence hopefully was an anomaly. Protests and rallies have always taken place at Seventh and Range Line, one of the most visible intersections in the city, for a variety of causes racial justice, immigration and abortion are just a few examples and rarely, if ever, have they become physically violent.

Violence should be condemned, regardless of what side of the issue you support. It does nothing to advance ones cause and redirects peoples attention away from the issue to the behavior.

Its presence also chills the First Amendment rights that people were exercising in the first place. The threat of violence aims to deter people from protesting, to intimidate them enough that they back off, take down their signs, stop chanting and maybe even cancel future protests.

That behavior isnt protected under the First Amendment.

In the United States, the First Amendment guarantees the freedom to express ones views, to peacefully assemble with others who share those views, and to petition the government for redress of grievances. But these rights are not boundless attempts to intimidate and coerce through threats of violence, stalking and armed paramilitary activity are not constitutionally protected, notes the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at the Georgetown University Law Center.

That means, according to the institute, that the First Amendment protects the right to free speech and to associate with others who share similar views, but it doesnt protect violent or unlawful conduct, even if the person engaging in it intends to express an idea.

All viewpoints and perspectives should be allowed to be expressed, and violence should not be tolerated.

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Our view: Violence chills First Amendment rights to free speech, assembly and petition - Joplin Globe