Lighting fire to a Tesla is domestic terrorism

[edhopper]

But I guess murdering lawmakers isn't.

[Ocelot II]

1. Domestic terrorism is defined in a federal statute but it's not a separately prosecutable offense.

Conduct that falls within the definition of domestic terrorism in the federal statute is actually prosecuted under other applicable federal or state laws. This was a big hole in the PATRIOT act that has yet to be filled (probably because most domestic terrorism is committed by right-wingers and the GOP doesn't want to go there). The people who vandalized Teslas are being prosecuted under various arson or other statutes; DoJ Barbie Bondi called those actions domestic terrorism, but in fact they aren't be prosecuted as such because there's no separate penalty for it. https://www.npr.org/2025/03/20/nx-s1-5333315/tesla-attacks-ag-bondi-domestic-terrorism-trump-musk