What constitutes making a terrorist threat?

Making a terrorist threat specifically involves expressing a clear intention to commit a crime of violence. This can include threats directed at individuals, groups, or the public at large, where the implication of such a threat is to instill fear, panic, or terror in the targeted individuals or communities. The crucial aspect is that the threat must convey the possibility of actual violent action, which is elementally different from other types of threats that might not carry the same weight or intent.

In contrast, threatening to harm oneself does not involve the threat of violence against others and typically falls under different legal definitions such as self-harm. Making threats to friends, while it can be serious, usually lacks the broader implications of instilling fear in a wider community or involves a personal context that does not qualify as a terrorist threat. Additionally, joking about violence in public can be protected as free speech unless it directly incites imminent lawless action or causes a reasonable person to feel threatened. Therefore, while all these scenarios involve threats or discussions of violence, it is the threatening to commit a crime of violence that meets the legal criteria for a terrorist threat.