Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier this week announced the launch of the “Combat Violent Extremism Portal,” designed as a tool for citizens to report threats of “politically-motivated violence” — a major area of concern following the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
“The idea of someone being assassinated for peacefully opposing radical ideals is vile and anti-American,” Uthmeier said in a social media update.
“Threats of political violence will not be tolerated in Florida,” he made clear. “That is why today we are launching a new tool named the Combat Violent Extremism Portal to report acts or threats of political violence.”
A press release accompanying the announcement describes the portal as a place the general public — who can participate anonymously — can upload evidence of violent threats associated with political extremism, including screenshots, videos, and other forms of evidence. Each report will be reviewed by a prosecutor, who will investigate “where appropriate.” It has a section where it asks the user to provide a threat summary and detailed links to the threat:
The announcement follows a troubling rise in politically motivated attacks nationwide. Federal reports show assaults on ICE officers have surged by more than 1000% over the past year. Conservative leader and generational icon Charlie Kirk was recently assassinated, with online threats and celebrations of his murder spreading in the aftermath.
“Any individual who makes a threat that violates Florida law will be dealt with immediately,” Statewide Prosecutor Brad McVay said in a statement, adding, “We look forward to working closely with our law enforcement partners to enhance the efforts to safeguard the Free State of Florida from political violence.”
Further, Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas pointed directly to educators in the Sunshine State, making it clear that “any educator who makes vile, despicable comments celebrating and encouraging violence in schools will be investigated and held accountable.”
The portal can be found here.
This comes as Kamoutsas also announcing probable cause to revoke the educational license of an elementary teacher in the Sunshine State who celebrated Kirk’s death. Specifically, the Clay County teacher posted, “This may not be the obituary we were all hoping to wake up to, but this is a close second for me.” Attached to the post was an article explaining Kirk was assassinated at a school.
Kamoutsas said they received hundreds of complaints over the teacher’s remarks and outlined probable cause for four different charges.
“Number one, gross immorality. Number two, failure to protect the health, safety and welfare of students. Number three, reduce effectiveness as an educator, and number four, failing to distinguish her personal views from that of a public educational institution,” he said, making it clear that they are officially “seeking the revocation of this educator’s license.”
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