Porter Goss: “Is a clenched fist a threat of force? Mr. Frank of Massachusetts. From over there, no, it is not. It depends on the…”

“Is a clenched fist a threat of force? Mr. Frank of Massachusetts. From over there, no, it is not. It depends on the situation as the gentleman would know. A threat of force would be, and it is already illegal. If in fact you stand an inch from someone and shake a fist in the person's face, that could be the threat of force, particularly if you said, ``If you take one more step, I'm going to punch you.'' The gentleman may be familiar with an arcane legal concept known as assault. Assault is not actual touching. An assault is a threat under the law, so if the gentleman thinks that nothing short of physical contact should ever be a crime, he better get all the laws of assault repealed, because assault is a threat. Battery is the touching. Mr. Speaker, again the problem is, as I said, a certain misunderstanding of the law. We are talking only about force, the threat of force, or a physical obstruction which is defined, and it is very carefully defined, the term physical obstruction means rendering impassable ingress to or egress from, and that means going in or going out for people who might have a little trouble there. Physical obstruction means rendering impassable ingress to or egress from a facility. Yes, this bill says you cannot physically prevent people from going into an abortion clinic. No, you do not have a legal right to do that. No, there is not a First Amendment right physically to prevent people from going in.”