A Tennessee man was jailed on a $2 million bond after being accused of inciting violence by posting memes of President Donald Trump and slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk in a Facebook group where members were organizing a vigil for Kirk.
According to The Tennessean, 61-year-old Larry Bushart, Jr. was charged with threats of mass violence on school property and activities after posting the images in the Perry County community group, where a local vigil for Kirk was being arranged.
One of the memes is an image of Trump with a direct quote from the president that reads, “We have to get over it.”
The president made that statement after a school shooting in January 2024 in Perry, Iowa, that claimed the life of one person and injured seven others.
Bushart, a former police officer, also captioned his post with, “This seems relevant today.”
Members of the Facebook group thought otherwise and reported Bushart under the ostensible assumption that he was making threats against Perry County High School, where last year’s mass shooting took place.
“This led teachers, parents and students to conclude he was talking about a hypothetical shooting at our school,” Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems said, adding that “numerous” people reached out to local authorities “in concern.”
Weems continued, “Investigators believe Bushart was fully aware of the fear his post would cause and intentionally sought to create hysteria within the community.”
The meme Bushart used has been posted countless times across social media since January 2024, typically in anti-Trump advertisements or by gun violence prevention activists.
In the weeks since Kirk’s death, people have reported being fired or suspended from their jobs for critical posts about Kirk.
Bushart is one of the first to face criminal charges for his unsympathetic post about the commentator. His bond was set at $2 million, according to local reports.
Some argued that authorities went too far and that his arrest represents an infringement of his First Amendment rights. However, police maintain that his post represented threatening speech and charged him under a state law passed in July 2024 that makes it a Class E felony to make threats against schools.
That law has reportedly faced intense scrutiny for blanket language that could conflict with Supreme Court precedent set in the 2023 Counterman v. Colorado ruling, according to The Tennessean.
The court determined that a “true threat,” which refers to threatening language not protected by the First Amendment, requires proof that the speaker consciously disregarded a “substantial risk” that their speech would trigger fear or harm others. The ruling states that the recklessness of the speech must be assessed by the speaker’s awareness of the risk, and not the listener’s perception of the threat.
“Creating mass hysteria in our community will not be tolerated,” Weems said, per WSMV. “We will continue to act quickly and decisively to protect our students and our citizens.”
“However, much offense it caused, there’s no serious argument it was a threat. It’s hard to see the arrest and charges as anything but politically motivated.,” one Aaron Terr, Director of Public Advocacy with Fire.org. His colleague followed up with, “Quote the President of the United States, go to jail.”
