U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch made statements after the San Bernadino, Calif., terrorist attack that people criticizing Islam should be prosecuted.

Soon after, Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., introduced H.Res. 569, making criticism of Islam a hate crime warranting federal prosecution. Some 128 congressmen joined him in co-sponsoring H.Res. 569, all of them Democrats.

Sharia Law prohibits criticizing Islam. Am I missing something? Didn’t those Democrats take an oath to preserve, protect and defend the U.S. Constitution? Freedom of speech is the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights, guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. It is what sets America apart from nearly all other countries across the globe.

The proposed resolution is a direct attack on the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech — a significant and cherished right.

George Washington once said, “If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the slaughter.”

Diane Rines, Greene