Former Tennessee police officer Larry Bushart Jr. has spent most of October in jail. His crime? Posting a Facebook meme.
The trouble started after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, when Larry responded to the public outrage with a somewhat callous take. He shared a meme on Facebook featuring a photo of President Trump, together with a quote: “We have to get over it.” The meme said these words were taken from Trump’s remarks after a 2024 shooting at Iowa’s Perry High School. Above was a caption, “This seems relevant today…”
Larry happened to share the meme on a Facebook page dedicated to his community of Perry County, Tennessee, which also happens to have a “Perry County High School.” But as The Intercept’s Liliana Segura noted, “it was easy to discern that, apart from the name ‘Perry,’ there was nothing connecting the meme” to the Tennessee school. And as Reason’s Joe Lancaster added, “In context, it’s clear Bushart meant to suggest that since Trump previously said people should ‘get over’ a school shooting, then they shouldn’t be expected to care about the murder of a conservative public figure.” Indeed, two commenters on Larry’s post recommended he “take a stress pill or something” or go mow his lawn. Touch grass, as the kids say.
Enter Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems, who had posted his own Facebook message after Kirk’s assassination, saying, “Evil could be your neighbor. Evil could be standing right beside you in the grocery store. It could be your own family member, and you never even know it.” Weems quickly arranged for an investigator to go to Larry’s house, followed by four officers with an arrest warrant. The warrant accused Larry of “Threatening Mass Violence at a School.” The officer who read Larry his charge laughed, and Larry responded, “I’ve been in Facebook jail, but now I’m really in it.”
What happened next is no joke: Larry has remained in jail ever since. Larry’s bond was set at $2 million. His next court date will not be until December 4.
Larry Bushart’s arrest and confinement violate the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has made it crystal clear that only true threats are exempt from the freedom of speech—not hyperbole and political bombast. As Reason pointed out:
“The U.S. Supreme Court created the true threat exception to the First Amendment in the 1969 decision Watts v. United States. Even then … it made the point of distinguishing between true threats and ‘crude political hyperbole’—in that case, a protester’s remark that if he were drafted into the Army, ‘the first man I want to get in my sights is’ then-President Lyndon Johnson. The court agreed with the plaintiff that it was not a true threat but simply ‘a kind of very crude offensive method of stating a political opposition to the President.’”
In short, the Constitution protects rude, crude, and heartless words.
The irony at the heart of this case? Charlie Kirk was a champion of free speech. As Kirk wrote on X in 2024: “There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.”
Honor Charlie. Free Larry.