Fox News reported on the BREATHE Act this way:

BLM pressures Democrats to embrace bill described as ‘roadmap for prison abolition’

Teen Vogue (which is how The Algorithm put this on my radar), framed it this way:

The BREATHE Act Is the Modern-Day Civil Rights Legislation We Need

Considering that Teen Vogue advocated for anal sex to teenagers, when they say this is the “civil rights legislation we need” take it with a grain of salt.

So what does the BREATHE Act actually say:

We have the text right here.

How about we pull out a few choice passages.

As of the first fiscal year (FY) beginning after the date that is one year after this Act becomes law, any existing budget authorizations and appropriations to the following programs and agencies are repealed, except as to the extent that is necessary to implement the Employee Transition Plan

• • • The Patrick Leahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership (42 USC
      §3711)
    • Project Safe Neighborhoods (34 USC §10101 & 34 USC §60701)DOJ Community Oriented Policing Services, including such programs Operation Relentless Pursuit
    • DOJ Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
    • DOJ Denaturalization Section
    • DOJ Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section
    • DOJ National Gang Center
    • DOJ Organized Crime and Gang Section
    • FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF)
    • FBI Transnational Anti-Gang Task Forces
    • Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration and Customs
      Enforcement (ICE)
    • DHS National Vetting Center
    • DHS Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Program
    • DHS Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant
      Program

This effectively eliminates every tool we have to combat terrorism, gang crime, and illegal immigration.  It also reduces enforcement of the law in America’s most dangerous cities.  That was the whole point of Relentless Pursuit.

“Americans deserve to live in safety,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “And while nationwide violent crime rates are down, many cities continue to see levels of extraordinary violence. Operation Relentless Pursuit seeks to ensure that no American city is excluded from the peace and security felt by the majority of Americans, while also supporting those who serve and protect in these communities with the resources, training, and equipment they need to stay safe.” 

But it also wants to take body armor away from police.  Yes, that’s bullet point number one, The Patrick Leahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership.  That is a program to supply body armor to local police departments with DOJ funds.  They want to take body armor away from police.

What else?

 Categorically prohibit federal law enforcement from using or contracting the use of:

• • • Tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper bullets, pepper spray, flash bangs, long range acoustic devices (LRADs), Stingrays, lasers, and any other “less than lethal” forms of crowd control;
    • Military-grade Weaponry Vehicles and Stun grenades
    • TASERs
    • Aerial surveillance
    • Drones used for surveillance or other carceral purposes
    • Body cameras

Any sort of less-lethal crowd control tools.  They want to disarm the police against the mob.

TASERs.  So much for “why did you shoot him, he only had a knife, you should have used a TASER.”  Without TASERs, the only choice for police is guns.  Either that or they run away like British police do, which is probably what the authors of this bill want.

Body cameras.  They want to ban body cameras.  Why?  Because clearly the evidence is that all those shootings that were supposed to be racially motivated were not.  Body cameras showed that those shootings were justified.  Since the evidence doesn’t match the narrative, get rid of the cameras to get rid of the evidence.

Prohibit federal law enforcement agents, acting under color of law, from the following:

• • • Engaging in violence, assault, sexual harassment, or extortion against any member of the public
    • Engaging in any sexual act with a member of the public who is under arrest, detained, or in custody
    • The use of physical restraints that are life-threatening or that restrict breathing
    • Requesting any warrant that permits no-knock or short-knock entries
    • Conducting SWAT raids
    • Conducting body cavity searches, visual cavity searches, or strip searches
    • Performing more frequent or more intrusive searches of transgender, gender nonconforming, or non-binary people
    • Allowing “cooling-off” periods defined as a period of time following an officer-involved shooting, during which individuals investigating the shooting are
      prohibited from communicating with any officer involved in the shooting
    • Creating and enforcing watchlists including but not limited to, counterterrorism, counter-intelligence, and transnational crime-related watchlists.

I’m pretty sure that it’s already illegal for police or federal law enforcement to engage in sexual harassment, extortion, or have sex with people in custody.  What concerns me about this wording is the phrase “engaging in violence, assault… against any member of the public.”  Does “violence [and] assault” include any force?  Does a forcible takedown of a person resisting arrest count as violence that is illegal?  I’m going to assume that is the intent.

As for cavity searches and no-knock warrants.  You guys know me.  I am definitely against their overuse but a total prohibitive ban is unrealistic.  Conducting a raid, or cavity or strip search with a warrant issued by a judge is a necessary tool for law enforcement.   Otherwise, there are going to be a lot more guns carried in the ol’ prison pocket.

If you want to talk about reforms to reduce rubber-stamping of no-knock warrants or ending judge shopping for warrants, I’m fine with that too.  But total elimination is not feasible.

This part is insane:

Prohibit federal law enforcement agencies, on or off-duty in a contracted capacity, armed security, metal detectors, and other surveillance equipment from Federal Government offices that provide social services.

Prohibit the presence of federal law enforcement agents at or within 1,000 feet of any of the following locations:

• • • Public and private preschools
    • Public and private elementary or secondary schools
    • Postsecondary schools, including colleges and universities
    • Other institutions of learning, including trade and vocational schools
    • Scholastic or education-related activities or events
    • Bus stops
    • Licensed adult or child daycare facilities
    • Any medical treatment or health care facility, including hospitals, community health centers, and health clinics
    • Federal, State, or local courthouses, including the office of an individual’s legal counsel or representative, and probation offices
    • Congressional district offices
    • Public assistance offices
    • Social Security offices
    • U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Offices
    • Locations of any organization that assists children, pregnant women, victims of crime or abuse, or individuals with significant mental or physical disabilities, The BREATHE Act Federal Bill Proposal 14 including domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, supervised visitation centers, family justice centers, and victims services providers
    • Locations of organizations that provide disaster or emergency social services and assistance, including food banks and homeless shelters
    • Sites of funerals, weddings, or other public religious ceremonies
    • Places of religious worship, including but not limited to churches, synagogues, mosques, gurdwaras, and buildings rented for the purpose of religious services
    • Indoor and outdoor premises of departments of motor vehicles
    • Community centers
    • Sites of public demonstration, such as a march, rally, or parade
    • Sites of other public gatherings where parents and children are in attendance, such as a festival or fair
    • Any other location that could reasonably be viewed as sensitive in nature

These people want to let sex offenders get closer to schools than federal law enforcement.

This is ridiculous.  Federal law enforcement can’t get within 1000 feet of a Congressional district office?   That is the very definition of federal jurisdiction.

Bus stops?  That eliminates the downtown region of most of America’s major metropolitan areas.

This pretty much ends the ability of federal law enforcement to enforce the law in the United States, which I assume is the point.

Raise the age to 24 years old to be tried as an adult.

Categorically end the practice of incarcerating individuals under 24.

Seriosly.  They want you to be able to vote at 18, buy booze and marijuana at 21, but not stand trial as an adult until age 24.  Why?  So all the college activists can be treated as juvenile offenders.  Simple as that.

Eliminate bars to obtaining asylum and withholding of removal, including the one-year application requirement for asylum, the bars for conviction of a so-called “particularly serious crime,” and any associated fees, and enshrine the right to seek asylum and withholding of removal based on domestic violence, sexual, homophobic, transphobic, reproductive, ableist and gang violence into law.

Eliminate any bars based on a person’s manner of entry and criminal history

Under this clause, every member of Los Zetas or MS-13 could claim asylum, no matter how many people they were convicted of butchering in their home countries.  This is just importing criminals.

This is just scratching the surface of the bill, which is 128 pages long.

Suffice it to say, it opens our borders, shuts down our prisons, gives criminals free rein, and hogties law enformcenet.

It is the Green New Deal of criminal justice reform.

Every square foot of America would be come the CHAZ.

Hopefully, this will be seen as too radical for our one-party controlled Government come January, but at this point, I just don’t know.

Usually, I’d say “it’s time to buy more ammo” but, 1) you’re already doing that if, 2) you can find it anywhere, but 3) if this bill passes, you can guarantee your right to self-defense will be eliminated altogether.