US Lawmaker Backs Freedom of Speech, Even for Daesh

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State Republican Martin Daniel of Knoxville, introduced a bill that would protect the rights of students to express their opinions in public. The proposed law, called the Tennessee Student Free Speech Protection Act, is intended to restrict schools from "suppress[ing] debate or deliberation because the ideas being debated or deliberated upon are considered to be offensive, unwise, immoral, or wrong."

On Wednesday, Daniel discussed his initiative with Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives John Deberry in a subcommittee meeting.

Deberry asked if the proposed law would allow people to "stand in the marketplace or in the town square" to recruit for Daesh, a violent extremist group of religious fundamentalists that US Secretary of State John Kerry has branded as guilty of genocide in Syria. Daniel responded that speech is protected in America, unless it “disrupts the proceedings on that campus.”

"They [people in college campuses] can recruit people for any other organization, too, or any other cause. I think it's just part of being exposed to differing viewpoints," he added.

DeBerry stated that a line should be drawn between what he defines as free speech and "being stupid."

“There are young people who are not ready yet — they're half-baked, half-cooked — who are recruited to work against their own parents, their own nation, and I would be concerned as a parent and as a citizen,” DeBerry claimed as quoted by WATE.

Daniel’s assertions of free speech, in dealing with an uncomfortable topic, have shocked some, but he hasn’t softened his tone. In his defense the congressman pointed to the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

"I will never apologize for defending the First Amendment," he said. "I will always cloak myself in it, and defend others' right to speak."

The bill was  eventually pulled from consideration in 2016 by Tennessee House of Representatives Chairman Mark White. This is not the first instance of First Amendment rights causing fierce discussion in the US, especially as it regards Daesh-linked stories.

In the court case of Tairod Pugh, a US military veteran caught on the Syrian border carrying a device containing a Daesh propaganda video, his lawyer stated that “none of this is illegal” and a person can’t be punished “for his thoughts.”

In what appeared to be one of the first trials of Daesh sympathizers in the US, Pugh was eventually found guilty and could receive a maximum prison sentence of 35 years.

Some 900 cases of alleged Daesh sympathizers are under investigation by the FBI, the agency Director James Comey said.