The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith expressed praise today for the passage of a law banning paramilitary training camps run by the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups. The legislation, which has passed both houses of the North Carolina legislature, was spearheaded by State Sen. Henson Barnes and based on a model statute drawn up by the ADL.
Barnes indicated that the law is an effort to stop “… the growth of paramilitary camps where certain groups are training their members to make gasoline bombs, explosive devices and the use of military techniques with the intention of using those weapons and training against other North Carolinians who are of a different religion, belief or race.”
The bill was opposed by members of the Ku Klux Klan, who have claimed to have paramilitary operations in the state in order to, according to the Klan, defend themselves.
According to Barnes, the bill accomplishes two things. “First, it makes it a felony to teach the use of an explosive device or weapon knowingly or intending that the weapon or explosive device
will be used unlawfully in a civil disorder. Second, it is a felony, under the bill, to assemble with others to learn make or use explosive devices or weapons unlawfully and intending to use the information in a civil disorder. A civil disorder is defined as a meeting of at least three people who assemble together for the purpose of destroying property or inflicting injury on others.
RECOGNITION OF CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
According to Ronald Kirschbaum, chairman of the ADL’s regional board, “The General Assembly and Sen. Barnes are to be congratulated. They have recognized a clear and present danger to our system of government and have moved courageously to counter it. Those that thrive on violence and chaos should take heed that they are not welcome and will not be tolerated in North Carolina.”
Norman Olshansky, North Carolina/Virginia regional director for the ADL stated: “This law should serve as a clear message to hoodlums and terrorists that their poisonous rhetoric will not be allowed to turn into civil disorder and criminal activity. North Carolina has had more than its share of Klan and Nazi violence. Criminals should be treated as such.”
The ADL model statute has been introduced in the legislatures of several other states and has already been inacted into law in Connecticut. The model statute, which was made public last February, was the basis upon which the North Carolina bill was drafted.
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