# Assassinating the President **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066 "2003-06-15T18:58:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/21 "2003-06-15T23:53:59Z")
**Bricker** , I said myself that I wasn’t sure. I also interpreted your question as an actual question (to which I said I didn’t know the answer), not a correction because of how you phrased it. Your other post was a little more snooty. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/22 "2003-06-15T23:54:25Z")
QUOTE: DOCTORDOOWOP The only time joking is considered a crime is specifically at security checkpoints at the airports. Wilt Chamberlain was detained for a period of time years ago for joking about a bomb on a team flight. Now, I recall having seen specific signs banning even joking (or mentioning) anything about bombs, etc. …also, don’t say Hi to anyone named Jack… ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/23 "2003-06-16T02:00:12Z")
How about discussing, “Hey, how possible is it to bypass the President’s defense…” Just discussion. Mere speculation. Or maybe a group of screenwriters sitting down to plan the assasination of a fictional President, or in alternate timeline. Is that illegal? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/24 "2003-06-16T02:13:46Z")
Groucho Mark once remarked (around the time of Watergate) something to the effect that the only hope this country had was Nixon’s assassination. This was sufficient to get the Secret Service’s attention. ---
**Author:** ![j\_kat\_251](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@j\_kat\_251](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_kat_251)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/25 "2003-06-16T02:59:26Z")
“You can’t say bomb on a plane” “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb ba dom. In the war I was a BOMBadier!” - Meet the Parents * * * I think a great present for the president would be a chocolate revolver. Only he’s real busy, so you’d have to run up really fast and give it to him. - Jack Handey ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/26 "2003-06-16T07:19:29Z")
> [@](#): > > This was sufficient to get the Secret Service’s attention. Recent classifications show that the FBI was keeping tabs on Groucho for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/27 "2003-06-16T13:32:12Z")
There was an [article](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20B16F7385E0C748EDDAD0894DB404482) in the NY Times written about something like this: > [@](#): > > …After a couple of pat-down searches, I sat in a small room with the good cop, Steve, and the bad cop, whom I’ll call Cruella. Steve said they had received a report that, on Oct. 12, 2000, I was overheard in a D.C. bar saying, ‘‘I have friends in the C.I.A. who will make sure Bush doesn’t enter the White House.’’ I responded that except for the facts that I don’t have any friends in the C.I.A. (that I know of) and that I’ve never thought, let alone said, something like that, I was in Philadelphia that day. Unfazed, Cruella opened an inch-thick file. Everything I’ve ever done wrong in my life flashed before me. (Took about a nanosecond.) She then said, firmly, ‘‘You’ve been arrested for trespassing on federal property in Washington.’’ > > The jig was up. Brilliant police work. As was widely reported, in 1986 this son of a librarian was convicted of a petty misdemeanor, having been caught red-handed studying after hours in the Library of Congress. Seriously. I helped lead a successful civil disobedience action protesting evening-hours reductions by not leaving when the new hours went into effect. > ‘‘We want your medical records,’’ she continued, sliding a paper across the table, ‘‘and want you to sign this release.’’ She paused. ‘‘You were in the military, you use the V.A. We can get those records.’’ They can? So why do they need a release? > ‘‘I’d like to talk with my attorney first,’’ I said. ‘‘May we continue this tomorrow?’’ > > … > > My attorney relayed the sobering news that, in a rare First Amendment exception, the simple utterance of a threat against a major presidential candidate can get you five years in prison and a fine – and what I reportedly said qualified… > > … > > Later, I submitted four Freedom of Information Act requests. The Secret Service ignored them all until my attorney filed suit in federal court. That got their attention, and my Secret Service file recently appeared in the mail. Along with the 85 pages they sent, there was a cover sheet noting, ‘‘In addition . . . 97 pages were withheld in their entirety.’’ Much of what I got was blanked out. They spelled my name five different ways, gave my weight variously as 173, 220 and the correct 190 and listed three different birthdays; my height was either 5-foot-9 or my actual 5-foot-11. The report also revealed: ''There is no indication that he has ever behaved violently toward anyone. . . . ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/28 "2003-06-16T16:23:45Z")
Yanno. This is G.Q. I would love to simply pick up the telephone, call my local F.B.I. Field Office ( they’re less than 20 miles away and I know where the building is. It’s next to a Friendly’s Restaurant- a fact I find faintly hilarious ) and just ask. Pointedly. " Can you point me towards the person who can quote me the US Criminal Code that specifically addresses this legal issue, please? ". Except that, I’d not see the inside of my home for many, many weeks if not months. That’s the world we live in, folks. Any ballsy attorney’s wish to take a swipe at it? Every single F.B.I. office in the United States is listed in local telephone books, whichever one services your area can be called. I’m just afraid to drop a dime and ask. Why? Because I can easily see where asking is tantamount to stating intent. **Bricker** , you’ve mentioned living in Virginia. Quantico is in your state. Care to call and enlighten us all? Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/29 "2003-06-16T17:02:30Z")
The NSA is monitoring this thread. -FK ---
**Author:** ![sillybee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@sillybee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sillybee)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/30 "2003-06-16T17:44:37Z")
hmm well i really doubt that you would be arrested unless someone did take you seriously but ur know how many nutters are out there so its most likey possible that you would get some kind of hassle for it in one way or another :smack: ---
**Author:** ![D.E.S.K.Top668](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@D.E.S.K.Top668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.E.S.K.Top668)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/31 "2003-06-16T18:32:16Z")
[slight hijack] Is assassination an actual charge in the U.S.? If it is, how do they determine if the death was assassination or premeditated murder? Is it automatically public official + death by another = assassination? Thanks in advance - DESK ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/32 "2003-06-16T18:38:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > \*\*It’s a sad commentary on the American justice system, when it’s against the law to threaten to kill Al D’Amato. \*\* Liberal smartass drive-by swipe in 3…2…oh, never mind… -Rav ---
**Author:** ![sillybee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@sillybee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sillybee)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/33 "2003-06-17T13:59:33Z")
its not an actual charge but it would be classified as premeditated but then again what do i know :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/34 "2003-06-17T15:20:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*So, unless you consider an ISP to be a “letter carrier” or a “post office”, emailing a threat is ok? 😃 \*\* See [http://www.cybercrime.gov/](http://www.cybercrime.gov/) ---
**Author:** ![sillybee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@sillybee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sillybee)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/35 "2003-06-17T17:59:58Z")
no emailing a threat is not ok silly…i told you what do i know:D ---
**Author:** ![Warnas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b77776/32.png) [@Warnas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Warnas)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066/36 "2003-06-17T18:11:50Z")
I’d recommend against it, if only for this: it would turn him into a saint. Last year in Holland we had this guy, Pim Fortuyn, who was about to make it big in the elections: his party was sure to be so big (starting from zero) that he was bound to be the next PM. (Big, loudmouth, bald gay person. I’m not saying those are bad people, I’m just saying I’d rather not have one as my president. Even worse, he was very right-wing, too although to most Americans he’d still be a red flag short of a commie 😉 Anyway, someone took him out and they made him into a SAINT. Statues, everything. We saw more about the b_st_rd on TV then, than we would have had he become the PM! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassinating-the-president/182066.md?page=1)