Senator Marsha Blackburn co-sponsors Bill to Impose Mandatory Minimum Prison Sentences for Defacing Stature of Federal Land.

Senator Marsha Blackburn

Washington, D.C., June 14, 2024— Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today introduced the Saving Treasured Artifacts Through Uniform Enforcement (STATUE) Act, legislation that would impose mandatory minimum prison sentences for defacing statues on federal land. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) is co-sponsoring the legislation.

Senator Cotton introduced the legislation after protestors damaged the area surrounding the White House, including painting pro-Hamas and antisemitic slogans on statues in Lafayette Square Park.

“Any protestor who defaces statues of America’s heroes must face the full extent of the law. As Joe Biden seeks to appease the pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic Party, it’s clear his administration won’t do anything to punish the protestors who defaced the area around the White House recently. The Senate should take up my legislation to punish these pro-Hamas lunatics,” said Senator Cotton.

Text of the legislation may be found here.

The STATUE Act would:

• Impose a minimum sentence of five years imprisonment and a $1,000 fine or a fine equal to the amount of damage to the property, whichever is greater.
• Amend the Veterans’ Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act so that it applies to all monuments or property under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

The Nashville Peace Monument

Rod's Comment: I am fully supportive of this proposed legislation. The right to protest should not include the right to deface property, break windows, set courthouses or police cars on fire, or spray paint or topple statues. I applaud Senator Blackburn for co-sponsoring this legislation. This bill only applies monuments on Federal land, as it should. However, if there is not already a State bill addressing this there should be. 

During the BLM riot of a couple years ago, many statues were defaced or toppled and many of them had nothing to do with honoring people who happened to have been slave owners. It was pure destruction for the sake of destruction. Monuments of Christopher Columbus and even Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, and even monument of abolitionists were defaced or toppled. In Nashville, the Peace Monument was defaced. Spray paint on granite takes care to remove. The cost of cleaning the Peace monument was $10,000. In Memphis, the wall at the entrance to Elvis' Graceland was badly defaced. Defacing private property or public property, toppling statues, vandalism, and arson of public or private property should carry a heavy penalty. 

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