California man pleads guilty after threatening to "shoot up and bomb" Merriam-Webster offices over its gender definitions

A California man who threatened violence against Merriam-Webster, Inc. for its gender definitions pleaded guilty in a Massachusetts federal court, the Justice Department said in a press release. Jeremy David Hanson, of Rossmoor, was charged with one count of interstate communication of threatening communications to commit violence.

The 34-year-old sent "various threatening messages and comments demonstrating bias against specific gender identities" to Merriam-Webster, Inc., which is based in Springfield, Massachusetts, in early October 2021, according to the DOJ. In addition to sending in threats via the "Contact Us" page, Hanson also allegedly left threatening messages in the comments sections on its pages that corresponded to the word entries for "girl" and "woman."

In a comment on Oct. 2, 2021, Hanson, under the username @anonYmous, wrote: "It is absolutely sickening that Merriam-Webster now tells blatant lies and promotes anti-science propaganda. There is no such thing as 'gender identity.' The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot."