News and Commentary

State To Decide If THIS Is Allowed On License Plate

   DailyWire.com
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The PC Police have caught up to a motorist in Utah.

In 2015, a Utahan requested — and received — a vanity license plate that reads “DEPORTM,” presumably in reference to illegal aliens in the United States.

Now, Utah officials are reviewing whether the motorist’s plate violates state guidelines.

“We’re not sure how it got through,” Tammy Kikuchi, a spokeswoman for the Utah State Tax Commission, which oversees the Utah Division of Motor Vehicles, told The Salt Lake Tribune. “We’re really quite surprised.”

Kukuchi said the license plate was approved in 2015, but added: “I don’t know why.” She said plates are not allowed that “may carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency or that may be misleading” and express “contempt, ridicule or superiority of a race, religion, deity, ethnic heritage or political affiliation.”

According to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles website, plates are disallowed if they:

Are vulgar, derogatory, profane, or obscene;
Make reference to drugs or drug paraphernalia;
Make reference to sexual acts, genitalia, or bodily functions, or
Express contempt, ridicule or superiority of a race, religion, deity, ethnic heritage, gender, or political affiliation.
Express or suggest endangerment to the public welfare.

The Tribune said some 1,500 plate requests have fallen into that category/ “Some — ‘MURDA,’ ‘PECKER1,’ ‘KKKADEN’ — leave little room for nuance within the guidelines. For others, — like ‘AUR0RA,’ ‘MAGICC,’ ‘SIEMPRE’ — it’s not clear what guideline the request violated, though applicants also are denied if the plate duplicates a previously issued plate.”

Salt Lake City resident Matt Pacenza on Thursday posted an image of the plate on Twitter, which made waves.

“Hey @utahdld, how does this plate I just saw not violate your guidelines?” he wrote.

Utah state Sen. Daniel Thatcher, a Republican, responded, saying: “A private citizen has a first amendment right to say offensive things. The State does not, and has rules about license plates. I believe those rules have been violated here. Hopefully Tax Commission agrees.”

Some on Twitter took issue to the plate. “This is just offensive to all of us hard-working immigrants who are a great addition to Utah. Wouldn’t surprise me if this guy simultaneously brags about his European immigrant ancestors. Clueless and classless,” wrote one user.

Wrote another: “Horrific. Utah used to be Mexico, yeah? And native before that? They should just say thank you and live and let live.”

Others defended the plate as protected by the First Amendment.

“I don’t like the plate but I’m wary of curtailing speech,” wrote one Twitterer.

Another Utah newspaper, the Deseret News, interviewed Pacenza.

“I think there’s a wide range of opinions in Utah when it comes to an issue like immigration and that’s a good thing,” Pacenza told the paper. “I think it’s good to live in a place where we can express ourselves freely and have a diverse set of attitudes about complex issues, but it doesn’t feel like to me license plates are the right venue for that. And this particular issue just seemed unusually aggressive and confrontational.”

Sen. Luz Escamilla, a Democrat from Salt Lake City, said the license plate will be discussed at  Administrative Rules Review committee meeting on Wednesday. If the plate is recalled, the motorist will  be notified and must respond within 15 days and can either turn in the plates or file an appeal.

Kikuchi, meanwhile, said the committee will look at how the plate was approved and consider proposed rule changes.

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