Area Lawmaker Pushing To Squash Funeral Protests

State Representative Frank Mautino has signed on as co-sponsor of a bill that cracks down on funeral protests of soldiers.

House Bill 180 expands current law protecting mourners at funerals by prohibiting any protests an hour before or after the funeral and banning protesters from being within a thousand feet of the entrance or exit of the cemetery.  The current bill keeps protesters 200 feet away.

The bill is in response to the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas who often protest at soldiers funerals.  Mautino says “hateful rhetoric has no place at private ceremonies like funerals, especially where fallen soldiers are laid to rest”.

The bill awaits a hearing with the House Criminal Law Committee.