There is understandable outrage over the latest antifa violence. This weekend's antifa assault on Quillette's Andy Ngo was particularly alarming in its brutal disdain for the rule of law.

But antifa shouldn't be too proud of their chaos. Some of its members are likely to soon reap the federal whirlwind. Consider Title 18, Section 241, of the U.S. Code, which explains (my emphasis in bold):

If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any [U.S. locality due to said person's] free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States... or if two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured - They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both....

It should be noted here that this statute, originally intended to combat the Ku Klux Klan, prescribes life in prison or death in cases where this sort of crime results in kidnapping, sexual assault, or death.

Okay, now watch video of the assault on Ngo.

In that video we appear to see multiple participants in an organized antifa protest engaging in a specifically targeted conspiracy against a journalist who is practicing his First Amendment rights. Not only that, but said individuals are doing so while disguised, and while on the highway (which, for purposes of federal law, includes public streets). As I say, the law was part of an effort to prevent the Ku Klux Klan and other racist forces in the south from interfering with blacks' right to vote. Today, it could well apply to lawless masked rioters interfering with other constitutional rights.

Some members of antifa might have a bigger problem on their hands than they think.