Posted April 6, 2020 2:00 pm by Comments

By Dean Weingarten

Screen Shot of Rusk County statement showing First Amendment threat, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten

U.S.A.-(Ammoland.com)- On 30 March 2020, the Public Health Department of Rusk County, Wisconsin, issued a statement under the name of the County Sheriff and Dawn Brost, RN, of Rusk County Public Health. The statement appears to be a direct attack on First Amendment rights. From the Rusk County web page:

The Rusk County Sheriff’s Office and Public Health Department take coronavirus infection (COVID-19) seriously. We are informing the public that making false statements and spreading rumors about COVID-19 is a crime and will be prosecuted.

No Wisconsin statute is cited. Wisconsin statutes have provisions for false statements or claims by a health care provider. A search did not find a statute for false statements by a member of the public, not for spreading rumors.

Here is an image of the entire statement:

Screen shot of full Rusk County announcement, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten.

The problem with prosecuting people for spreading rumors or making false statements is it is not clear who gets to decide what is false or not.

There are often diametrically opposed statements made by different …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand

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