# How to stop the Menacing Clown problem. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191 "2016-10-10T22:17:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/21 "2016-10-11T01:40:37Z")
First they came for the clowns, and I said nothing, because I’m a mime. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/22 "2016-10-11T02:51:24Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > It would not be a felony because I’m proposing passing a law, similar to The Castle Doctrine. It’s exactly like the Castle Doctrine. Well, exactly like except for one tiny difference: 1. The Castle Doctrine legalizes violence against certain people when they’re committing a felony. 2. Your proposal legalizes violence against certain people when they’re engaged in protected freedom of expression. Otherwise, though, I agree, they’re the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/23 "2016-10-11T02:54:25Z")
Step 1: Establish that a “menacing clown problem” _exists_. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/24 "2016-10-11T02:55:37Z")
Would she be illegal? [http://web-images.chacha.com/images/Gallery/7021/crazy-things-girls-do-to-attract-guys604883543-apr-24-2014-1-600x450.jpg](http://web-images.chacha.com/images/Gallery/7021/crazy-things-girls-do-to-attract-guys604883543-apr-24-2014-1-600x450.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/25 "2016-10-11T02:57:45Z")
I’m thinking rant, people. Off to the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/26 "2016-10-11T03:10:19Z")
> [@black\_rabbit](#): > > First they came for the clowns, and I said nothing, because I’m a mime. Beautifully done.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/27 "2016-10-11T08:55:01Z")
> [@black\_rabbit](#): > > First they came for the clowns, and I said nothing, because I’m a mime. Funniest thing I’ve read all day! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/28 "2016-10-11T08:56:32Z")
Just tell New Line Cinema to stop their viral marketing campaign for the “It” movie. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/29 "2016-10-11T10:13:29Z")
I’m not a _clown_, I’m a _ **jester** _, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/30 "2016-10-11T12:31:01Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Treat them like other people who are planning on grabbing children? The problem there is the word “other,” since there is zero evidence that they plan on grabbing children. > > Here’s a better solution: treat them like other people who aren’t planning on grabbing children. Let them have their fun, and don’t beat the shit out of people because they decide to dress funny. Boom, problem solved! > > Of course, my solution favors the first amendment. Lemme know if that’s a problem with it. Missed a smudge of grease paint behind your ear, Clarabell. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/31 "2016-10-11T12:40:41Z")
Jeez, people… No one’s pointed out that the only thing that’ll stop a bad guy in a clown suit is a good guy in a clown suit? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/32 "2016-10-11T13:18:21Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > 1. Your proposal legalizes violence against certain people when they’re engaged in protected freedom of expression. Except they aren’t. They are deliberately terrorizing towns with the intent of creating panic. Schools have been locked down. Police departments have been called in, and have threatened action if caught. Threatening people is not protected speech. But, hey, it’s a post by **magellan**. Got to argue against him, even if it means ignoring reality. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/33 "2016-10-11T13:19:42Z")
Oh good god. Now I want to see a photoshop of Trump standing behind Hillary in the last debate, only wearing clown paint. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/34 "2016-10-11T14:23:00Z")
If we don’t stop the clowns, our society will be somehow harmed forty years from now. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/35 "2016-10-11T14:54:02Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Let’s outlaw clown suit manufacturing then. Or sales of clownsuits. Fuck it, let’s just go shoot up a bunch of clownsuit stores and factories now. Why wait for those clowns in congress to pass legislation? What if that works and the banners move on to other costumes? What if they try and ban furries and other people that like to dress as animals? People have a constitutional right to bear arms, but the rest of the bear costume wasn’t mentioned by the founding fathers. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/36 "2016-10-11T14:58:56Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Oh good god. Now I want to see a photoshop of Trump standing behind Hillary in the last debate, only wearing clown paint. 😃 [https://www.facebook.com/ILOVETRUMPMEMES/photos/a.1639524783032570.1073741828.1639523079699407/1695253210793060/?type=3&theater](https://www.facebook.com/ILOVETRUMPMEMES/photos/a.1639524783032570.1073741828.1639523079699407/1695253210793060/?type=3&theater) I’ve seen a few others like this but this is my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/37 "2016-10-11T15:03:18Z")
How are these things so scary? When I was young, we watched clowns for breakfast. These wusses nowadays… ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/38 "2016-10-11T16:14:07Z")
I expect that the number of _reported_ clown sightings far exceeds the number of doofuses actually dressing as scary clowns. Even the threats to schools aren’t hand-delivered by someone in a clown suit; they’re social media claims and rants, most likely just people claiming to be a clown or have seen a clown. This mass hysteria has all the earmarks of…well…mass hysteria. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/39 "2016-10-11T16:32:18Z")
We had an incident in our neighborhood last week; a person dressed as a clown was meandering through back yards, carrying what appeared to be a baseball bat, and occasionally stopping to gaze at a house while casually swinging the bat. Scared the crap out of a young woman who was at home with her toddler (her hubby is deployed). She called our neighborhood police who were unable to find a suspect, but it led to a scathing post on our Facebook page from our Chief, instructing parents to caution their teens about hopping on the meanacing clown bandwagon as our neighborhood is full of current and former military folks without a sense of humor about such things. Also, wearing a mask in public is a felony. Wasn’t there at least one case recently where the clown tried to grab a baby from a mom at a bus stop? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191/40 "2016-10-11T16:35:15Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I expect that the number of _reported_ clown sightings far exceeds the number of doofuses actually dressing as scary clowns. Even the threats to schools aren’t hand-delivered by someone in a clown suit; they’re social media claims and rants, most likely just people claiming to be a clown or have seen a clown. > > This mass hysteria has all the earmarks of…well…mass hysteria. So where are the dogs and cats living together, smart guy? Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-stop-the-menacing-clown-problem/768191.md?page=3)