Ask Amy: Insurrectionists should be reported
Dear Amy: I saw my next-door neighbor in the footage of the rioters at the Capitol on January 6.
After the election in November, this neighbor moved out of his house and back in with his mother, and got involved in all the "stop the steal" efforts that culminated in him traveling to Washington, D.C., and storming the Capitol.
After I showed the footage of him to his (Biden-voting) wife, she told me she'd been texting with him during the day, telling him to stay away, and telling him that it was a federal crime to go inside, etc., but that he'd gone inside, anyway.
Later I heard that he was so excited about seeing himself on this video footage that he's planning to get it made into a photo and have it framed.
He's been my next-door neighbor for nine years. When his tree blew down, I grabbed my chainsaw and helped cut it up. When my fence blew down, he came over and helped. He's jumped my car battery. I've cut his grass when they're out of town. Next-door neighbor stuff.
I don't know if I should report him or not. On the one hand, if those people aren't punished, they might be emboldened to do something else. I also don't believe the penalty (if any) will be significant.
— Concerned in the South
Dear Concerned: As of this writing, over 200 people have been arrested for participating in what Republican (former) Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called “an armed and failed insurrection attempt” in the U.S. Capitol building by a “mob… which was fed lies, provoked by the president [Donald Trump] and other powerful people.”
The FBI has explicitly asked for the public’s help in identifying participants (send online tips to tips.fbi.gov) or call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).
USA Today is publishing an updated list of those arrested, including details of their alleged crimes and how they were caught. Some have turned themselves in, but the Bureau has also reportedly received over 140,000 tips leading to arrests – the majority coming from family members, friends, neighbors, and people who went to high school with the rioters and recognize them from footage taken inside the Capitol.
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