A North Carolina district attorney says members of the Proud Boys who show up to public meetings in Wilmington in their trademark masks are violating state law.
District Attorney Ben David told New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon in a letter that a 1953 state law aimed at curbing the domestic terrorism of the Klu Klux Klan still makes it illegal for people to conceal their identity on government property in 2023.
That law doesn’t apply to medical masks because of a different law passed early in the pandemic.
The letter notes the spirit of the law when it was written and in modern times is to prevent intimidation of the public.
New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lt. Jerry Brewer, however, said David’s letter does not change deputies’ hands-off policy towards the Cape Fear Proud Boys chapter.
