The United States Supreme Court has held that: (1) a “true threat” is an unprotected category of communication which subjects a person to the fear of violence and to the many kinds of disruption that fear engenders; and (2) the First Amendment of the United States Constitution requires a speaker who communicates a true threat to act recklessly when making such a statement. (Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66, 74-81 (2023)) The Supreme Court has further held that a person acts recklessly when he or she “consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the conduct will cause harm to another.” (Counterman, 600 U.S. at 79 (quoting Voisine v. U.S., 579 U.S. 686, 691 (2016))
Existing law provides that a person is guilty of harassment if he or she, without lawful authority, knowingly makes certain threats and, by words or conduct, places the person threatened in reasonable fear that the threat will be carried out. Existing law further provides that a person who is guilty of harassment is: (1) for the first offense, guilty of a misdemeanor; and (2) for the second or any subsequent offense, guilty of a gross misdemeanor. (NRS 200.571)
This bill prohibits a person from, during any speech or other communication made in the course of his or her political campaign, threatening the life of any other person: (1) with conscious disregard for the substantial and unjustifiable risk of harm to another caused by his or her speech or communication; and (2) in a manner which places the person who is the subject of the threat in reasonable fear that the threat will be carried out. This bill further provides that a person who violates the provisions of this bill is: (1) for the first offense, guilty of a misdemeanor; and (2) for the second or any subsequent offense, guilty of a gross misdemeanor.