Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been swatted twice in two days.
Swatting is the act of calling in a fake police report, usually about a violent crime, to a person's home or business — prompting a heavy police response.
At 2:53 a.m. EST on Thursday, someone used an internet crisis line to report "a male possibly shooting his family members and then himself" at Greene's address in Rome, Georgia. Swatted again last night.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 25, 2022
The first swatting took place at approximately 1 a.m. EST on Wednesday. The swatter claimed that a man had been shot multiple times in a bathtub at Greene's home. They later called back and claimed that they opposed her due to her positions on transgender issues. “911 received a call from the suspect, claiming responsibility for the incident and explaining his/her motives.”
“They explained they were upset about Ms. Greene's stance on 'trans-gender youth's rights,' and stated they were trying to 'swat' her.”https://t.co/XdDXeTLVj1
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 24, 2022
The suspect “explained that they were upset about Ms. Greene’s stance on ‘trans-gender youth’s rights’, and stated that they were trying to ‘SWAT’ her,” the police wrote in a report obtained by CNBC.
Last week, Greene introduced a bill that would make it a crime to provide minors with sex change hormones or surgeries.
https://timcast.com/news/marjorie-taylor-greene-introduces-bill-to-make-sex-change-hormones-and-surgeries-for-minors-a-felony/
The “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” which currently has 11 Republican co-sponsors, could additionally prohibit using federal funds for sex change treatments.
It states that anyone who "knowingly performs any gender affirming care on a minor is guilty of a class C felony" carrying a penalty of 10 to 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
The person receiving the treatment will not be arrested or prosecuted under the proposed law.
While some in the media have mocked Greene for calling the swattings a "violent political act," she is not necessarily incorrect.
Swatting has led to at least one death in the last five years. 911 is for emergencies. Police resources need to be used wisely.
It’s terrifying someone used this violent tactic as a political attack. pic.twitter.com/GcUFmfLvmu
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 24, 2022
In 2017, a fake police report was called in to the home of a man named Andrew Finch in Wichita, Kansas. The swatter had claimed that he had shot his father to death and was holding the rest of his family hostage.
Finch was unarmed and on his porch when he was shot by a police officer who believed that he was reaching for a gun.
The false report had been called in by serial swatter Tyler Barriss, who pleaded guilty to 51 charges of swatting in 2019 — including one count of making a false report resulting in a death.
Barriss was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2019 under a plea agreement.
“We hope that this will send a strong message about swatting, which is a juvenile and senseless practice," U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said during a news conference following Barriss' sentencing. "We’d like to put an end to it within the gaming community and any other context. Swatting, as I’ve said before, is not a prank."
