Worthy Christian News > US News > California Republican mayor: Not wearing a mask in public is domestic terrorism

California Republican mayor: Not wearing a mask in public is domestic terrorism

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The Republican mayor of Lancaster City, California said last week that people who do not wear a mask in public should be arrested on the grounds they are committing domestic terrorism, Los Angeles Daily News reports. A sharp critic of LA County’s COVID-19 lockdown measures, Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris made his remarks at a Supervisors Board meeting amid leaders’ growing frustration about blanket shutdown orders they believe are harming local economies and violating civil liberties.

By way of reaction to a steep increase in COVID-19 transmission rate, and with hospitals filling up again, LA County health officials ordered a ban on outdoor dining in the county starting last Wednesday and set to continue for at least three weeks, LA Daily News reports.

The move prompted local officials, including Parris, to call a December 3 meeting to consider a no-confidence vote in the county’s public health chief, LA Daily News reports.

“They are doing exactly the same thing they did in March and April,” Parris said about the dining ban. “Across L.A. County, thousands of restaurants were gearing up for Thanksgiving…they are driving these people into bankruptcy.”

“If it were up to me, anybody not wearing a mask when they are out in public would be arrested,” Parris continued. “That’s an act of domestic terrorism and should be treated like one.”