Ted Sandmann, the father of the Covington Catholic High School teen seen wearing a Make America Great Again hat in the now famous encounter with a Native American activist, is hoping the state will make it a criminal offense to reveal personally identifying information about a minor on the internet.
"My son, Nicholas Sandmann, was the victim of the most sensational Twitter attack on a minor child in the history of the internet."
With those words, Sandmann began his testimony in favor of Senate Bill 240, meant to give parents more legal options when personal information about a minor is spread online with intent to "intimidate, abuse, threaten, harass, or frighten," often referred to as doxing.
The family is suing the Washington Post for $250 million in damages, saying it targeted and defamed Nick Sandmann in its coverage of the viral confrontation with Native American drummer Nathan Phillips, but the elder Sandmann says others should be held accountable.
"The doxing is about people like Kathy Griffin who went out there and incited other people to go and find personal information on those kids, and then retweeted that and said, "Go out and get them,'" Sandmann told reporters.
Opponents agreed on the need to address the issue, but worried the language in the bill is "overly broad" and runs afoul of the First Amendment. Louisville Democrat Morgan McGarvey suggested that, as written, the bill could potentially reach far beyond the intended targets.
"If you retweet with comment a picture, and it is an unflattering comment, that then qualifies as harassment," the senator said. "Would a million people potentially be liable to the fines and prosecution?"
The anti-doxing bill ultimately moved out of committee on a party-line 8-3 vote, sending it to the full Senate.
Read WUKY's timeline of the viral incident.
