In Case You Missed It

This past Thursday, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would extend federal hate-crime protection to include gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability and increase penalties against attackers. Hate crimes under current federal law apply to acts of violence against individuals on the basis of race, religion, color, or national origin.

President Bush has threatened to veto the bill. "There has been no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement, and doing so is inconsistent with the proper allocation of criminal enforcement responsibilities between the different levels of government," the White House statement said.

Should the law be expanded? Or is it not necessary? What do you think?