TULSA, Okla. – Attacks this summer on counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, and an empty Air Force recruiting station in Oklahoma had the hallmarks of terrorist attacks. But they weren't prosecuted as such.
Many law enforcement officers referred to the attacks as acts of domestic terrorism, but no such charges were brought because they don't exist. U.S. law defines a terrorist as having ties to a foreign entity, such as the Islamic State or other known terror groups.
Homegrown extremist groups like neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan aren't labeled that way, even if they employ similar tactics of violence and intimidation.
The government generally prosecutes such cases under other charges, such as murder. But several recent attacks, including a deadly one on a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, have stoked debate about whether there should be domestic terrorism laws.
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