On Sunday Detroit Police Chief James Craig said four black men were arrested for allegedly threatening to kill “white cops.” 

According to the Detroit Free Press/AP, one of the four men used a Facebook post to laud the Dallas gunman as a “hero,” adding, “He inspired me to do the exact same thing.”  Another of the four posted, “All lives can’t matter until black lives matter.  Kill all white cops.”  Another wrote, “It’s time to wage­ war and shoot the police first.”  And the fourth wrote, “This needs to happen more often.” 

Chief Craig said he is working with federal, state, and local officials to figure out exactly what charges may be brought against the men.  He explained that this interagency/tri-level approach is because of the use of social media, saying, “Social media is new territory, and while it’s been established that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment, we’re talking about people specifically saying on Facebook they want to kill white police officers.” 

He said that in this “current environment, anyone who says they want to kill police officers is making a threat.” 

Craig added: “If someone threatens to kill the president, that person would be arrested and prosecuted.  How is it any different when someone threatens to kill white cops?” 

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio.  Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins.  Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.