California governor Gavin Newsom announced today that the state is considering passing an emergency law that can give complete immunity to drivers who strike and injure protesters with their cars on public streets. The move comes a day before a convoy of protesting truckers is said to be coming to the Inglewood, CA to barricade roads to the Super Bowl.

“Our new law would give civil immunity to individuals who drive into crowds of protesters, meaning they won’t be sued for damages if people get hurt or killed if they can claim self-defense,” Newsom stated.

Additionally, the law would prevent people convicted of unlawful assembly from ever holding state employment – including elected office – and would prohibit individuals convicted of unlawful protesting from receiving unemployment benefits, housing and student loan assistance.

Part of the law also states that an individual cannot obstruct or interfere with traffic during a protest unless they have a permit for their demonstration. If an injured protester decides to bring a lawsuit, the law puts the burden of proof on the injured person to show that the driver was intending to cause injury.

“We aren’t going to allow Inglewood and SoFi Stadium become the next Ottawa,” Newsom stated.

Importantly, Newsom isn’t actually doing any of this, but if he had, it would have been the first Democrat-run state in the US to have such a law. The Republican states of North Carolina, Florida, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas all either have a similar law in place or have tried to pass like-minded bills – all since the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Please do NOT hit anyone with your vehicles.

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Photo credit Redspork02