Many people carry a misconception about the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The First Amendment does indeed protect our freedom of speech, but nowhere in the Constitution is a provision protecting us from the consequences of whatever it is we feel compelled to say.

Shout “Fire!” in a crowded theater or “Bomb!” in an airport, and you’re likely to find out quickly that while your freedom of speech is absolute, you won’t be free of the consequences of that speech. Those are terroristic threats.

Two recent but unrelated situations got me thinking about this.

The first came out of a conversation with a lifelong friend, who casually shared a story about his son — let’s call him Michael — and an acquaintance. Both kids attend a middle school in Northeast Ohio.

The other boy approached Michael one day at school, got within a few inches of his face and whispered: “I’m going to break into your house at night and kill your entire family in their sleep.”

There were more specific threats made, but you get the idea.

Michael did exactly what he should have done, which is ask permission to visit the principal’s office, where he reported what the other boy had said.

But other than a promise to ensure that the boys would be separated as far as future classes are concerned, school officials did not discipline the boy and as far as I know, they didn’t report the threat to local law enforcement.

I told my friend that he should contact the police and file a report, especially since — according to Michael and other kids — this was not the first time the kid has made these kinds of threats.

My friend said that the principal believed his son’s account of what was said, but said she suspected that the other boy’s parents would deny he threatened anyone.

So to school district officials, this was essentially classified as a “he said, he said” situation. Haven’t we seen enough school shootings to know it’s well beyond time to take threats seriously?

The second thing that caught my eye of late was a stunning statistic. The National Contagion Research Center reported that as many as 55 percent of self-described leftists polled said they could at least “somewhat justify” the assassinations of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk for political reasons.

Remember, two attempts were made on Trump’s life leading up to the November 2024 election. The first during a Trump rally, in Butler, Pa., resulted in the death of a man in the crowd behind the dais. A bullet grazed Trump’s ear, leaving him bloodied. The gunman was killed by Secret Service snipers, but not before he got off several rounds.

A man who later tried to shoot Trump on one of his Florida golf courses was spotted before he could take a shot and was eventually apprehended.

Those two incidents and the December assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson by Luigi Mangione — who has become a folk hero to some — seem to suggest that Americans’ appetite for murder for political or social justice reasons has become normalized.

It’s not really a new phenomenon. Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy all were assassinated during their presidential terms. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated in the same year (1968). Two attempts were made on Gerald Ford’s life and Ronald Reagan actually took a bullet in an assassination attempt.

Then there was the crazed gunman who opened fire at a congressional baseball practice for Republicans. U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise was wounded and nearly died.

What’s new is that it’s no longer just the random nutcases we have to worry about. When so many people on social media either make outright threats or condone political violence — up to and including assassination — America has a problem.

Threats against Trump, Musk or a middle-school kid and his family are forms of terrorism. Anyone who believes such acts can be justified are terrorists and should be treated as such.

If you’re among the segment of American people who are OK with all of this, you’re part of the problem and should seek help.

Ed Puskas is editor of the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator. You can reach him at 330-841-1786

or at epuskas@tribtoday.com.