College Student Facing Felony Charges for Terrorism Over Joke Photo of AR-15 on Social Media
“is an Eagle Scout and has never been in any trouble before”
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Imagine finding yourself in this kind of trouble. What a crazy situation.
The College Fix reports:
College student facing felony charges of terrorism over joke AR-15 photograph
A college student from Lake Superior State University is facing terrorism charges for posting a picture to social media last fall in which he displayed his firearm and made an apparent reference to offending anti-gun college students with it.
In August of 2019 Lucas Gerhard uploaded the photograph of his new AR-15 to a private group on the social media platform Snapchat with the caption: “Takin this bad boy up, this outta make the snowflakes melt, aye? And I mean snowflakes as in snow.” Lucas had saved the money to buy the gun after a summer working at a diner, according to his father, Mark Gerhard, who spoke over the phone at length with The College Fix about the situation involving his son.
One of the members of the private group showed the photo to a young woman who was not part of it. This individual previously had political disagreements with Lucas, according to Mark Gerhard, and had been blocked from accessing his Snapchat account.
That young woman interpreted the photograph as threatening, took a screen capture of the image and showed it to school authorities out of concern that Lucas was planning to commit a school shooting.
Gerhard, a retired United States Marine of 30 years, said that that interpretation of his son’s character was wildly off-base.
“Lucas is an Eagle Scout and has never been in any trouble before. He was going into his third year as a junior criminal justice law enforcement major at LSSU with the full intention of becoming involved in law enforcement in some way, with a focus on state police,” Gerhard said.
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Under current Michigan law, he could potentially get a 20 year sentence. As a result, there is currently a bill in the MI state legislature to “tighten up” the definition of “making terrorist threats”. Friends have started a GoFundMe account for his legal expenses (justice-for-lucas-g).
I see no need to tighten the definition. What he did doesn’t fit the current definition. That he’s being prosecuted anyway is outrageous, but tightening the definition wouldn’t have prevented it. If they’re ignoring the definition then it doesn’t matter what it is.
Sorry, anybody who publicly refers to a gun as “this bad boy” nowadays is just too stupid to fiddle with pointy objects, let alone firearms. Sure, somebody’s overreacting badly, but that’s the world we have to deal with . . . so deal with it before it deals with all of us.
SUE baby, sue!
This kid will earn a fortune!
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Put those people in jail!
This “young woman”/(snow)flake reminds me of the old joke about the neighborhood snoop who called the police to report the next door neighbors “exposing their naked bodies” to her.
The cops arrive at her home to take her statement, and she’s all upset, saying
“I’m so glad you’re here officers, they’re doing it RIGHT NOW!”
The police standing on the front steps look around and, seeing no naked bodies, say
“Uh, ma’m, I’m afraid I don’t see anything like you describe.”
She reply’s,
“You can see it from my window inside, officers.”
Thinking maybe the naked neighbors are at the side or rear of her house,
they ask to come in to check it out.
She leads them to a side window, in back of a chair.
They can see nothing but fencing, hedges, and house there.
“Uh, ma’m, I’m afraid we still don’t see anything like you describe….”
she reply’s sharply….
“Of course NOT officers, you’re not standing on top of this chair!”
That said, I don’t just blame the kook snowflake who reported a non-existent “threat”,
I blame the authorities who treated her fantasies as if real.
Nothing in the reported posting sounded like he’s planning to commit a mass shooting,
shoot any one in particular, or shoot her specifically.
What he DID say was that any ‘snowflake” who saw his new purchase
would likely panic or over-react to its mere existence.
Was he incorrect? Nope.
And it’s a really ineffective way to “threaten” or intimidate someone by making the “threat”
In a private chat you have no expectation they will ever see or hear about.
What he said was that he meant actual snow. As in the stuff that falls down from the sky, is inanimate, and has no feelings to hurt.