Steven L. Cibotti, 57, of San Francisco was intoxicated when he did it, but that doesn’t excuse him.
In June 2020, during the height of the George Floyd protests, he was at a restaurant when he spotted a family with young kids wearing BLM tee-shirts.
Without any prompting or provocation, Cibotti went over to their table, slammed his hands on the table, and unleashed a stream of F-bombs. He told them if he had a gun he would shoot them.
Cibotti was arrested over a week later. He eventually pleaded no-contest to a felony hate crime charge, and has been sentenced to 60 days in jail (read story here).
He should’ve got more. He’s entitled to his opinions, but not to confront others in a threatening matter over their opinions. He doesn’t have to like Black Lives Matter, but it would be nice if he kept his vulgar mouth shut about it. That’s not what he’s going to jail for, though. The jail time is for threatening their lives.
If he wants to demonstrate against BLM, he can do so in the same public square BLM supporters use to demonstrate against police killings of black people. You can have free speech without hate. It takes away no one’s legitimate rights to criminally charge people who threaten to shoot kids because they don’t like the message on a tee-shirt.
Cibotti was fired from his United Airlines job because of this incident. After serving his jail sentence, he’ll be in supervised probation for two years, during which time he can’t use alcohol or marijuana. (If he has a drinking problem, seeking treatment is up to him.) He has to perform 120 hours of community service. As a convicted felon, he can’t have guns.
Good. People who threaten to shoot kids over a t-shirt should be stripped of their gun rights. I think anyone prohibited from having guns who’s caught with a gun should go straight to prison; I don’t want such people in society.
The news stories don’t say whether the victims plan to sue Cibotti, but his conduct was tortious. The judgment might come from of his assets, because many liability insurance policies don’t cover intentional torts. The more consequences the better, to deter this kind behavior. Hate crimes should ruin the perpetrators’ lives.