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Republican Lawmaker In Mississippi Proposes Law Against Saggy Pants
Republican Lawmaker In Mississippi Proposes Law Against Saggy Pants

Republican Lawmaker In Mississippi Proposes Law Against Saggy Pants

Republican Lawmaker In Mississippi Proposes Law Against Saggy Pants

Republican lawmakers in Mississippi have proposed a law against saggy pants.

In a report from The Huffington Post Tom Weathersby, a Republican serving in the state's House of Representatives, wants to enact a law that would make it "unlawful for any person to wear pants, shorts or clothing bottoms that exposes underwear or body parts in an indecent or vulgar manner."

If approved, the punishment will vary depending on the offense: a first offense comes with a warning (if the person is a teenager their parents will also be notified); following that fines will range anywhere from $20 for a second offense to $100 for a sixth offense. The sixth offense would also come with "psychological and social counseling by the Department of Human Services and the Department of Mental Health."

"Personally, I like to see people dressed when they're in public and I like to see people with their pants up," Weathersby said in an interview with Mississippi Today.

Other communities across the country have implemented similar laws, including Opa-Locka, Florida, and Wildwood, New Jersey. However, the former ended up repealing its legislation against saggy pants, after the NAACP Florida Chapter threatened legal action against the Ocala City Council back in 2014. The NAACP argued that black males would be the subject of such a law.

In similar news, resisting arrest can now be considered a hate crime in Louisiana, under the state's "Blue Lives Matter" bill.

St. Martinville Police Chief Calder Herbert recently spoke to a local ABC affiliate, in which he said that he hopes the bill not only saves lives, but makes offenders reconsider resisting arrest.

"We don't need the general public being murdered for no reason and we don't need officers being murdered for no reason. We all need to just work together," Herbert said. "Resisting an officer or batter of a police officer was just that charge, simply. But now, Governor Edwards, in the legislation, made it a hate crime."

However, Governor John Bel Edwardsoffered a response to the criticism the bill is facing in regards to this, saying that the state's hate crime law does not include resisting arrest. You can read up on the "Blue Lives Matter" bill here.