DMV: Dallas driver's 'LOCKHMUP' vanity plate considered derogatory

DALLAS - The Texas DMV told a Dallas man that his anti-president personalized license plate is now considered offensive.

Bill Moore has had the ‘LOCKHMUP’ plate for more than a year and a half. But since someone recently filed a formal complaint about it, the state says he can't have it anymore.

The seven letters represent a twist of the phrase: “Lock her up.” President Donald Trump and his supporters have chanted the three words in reference to Hillary Clinton since the campaign trail in 2016.

It wasn't until after Trump's election during all the talk about possible collusion with Russia that Moore decided to say "Lock Him Up" in bold black and white on his Tesla.

"I want people to know how I feel,” Moore said. “I feel like he should be locked up."

Documents show Moore got the plate in March 2017 and renewed it in March this year.

"I'll be at a red light and someone will come by, tell me to roll down and they'll say, 'Thumbs up for your license plate,’” Moore said.

But this past week, Moore got this letter from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles stating that it "recently received a complaint" about his personalized license plate and it would be canceled because it "may be viewed as derogatory.”

"So he can say lock her up, but I can't say lock him up? I don't understand the difference,” Moore said.

Texas DMV code defines derogatory as "an expression that is demeaning to, belittles, or disparages any person, group, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or refers to an organization that advocates such expressions.”

“I'm not inciting violence. It's just my thoughts that he is a criminal and he needs to be locked up, just like at his rallies when he says that all these other people are criminals and they should be locked up,” Moore said. “It's the same difference, only no one controls him. But yet I'm a citizen being told that I can't do the same thing."

A spokesperson for the DMV confirmed via email Wednesday that the letters ‘LOKHRUP are also unavailable for the same reason.

Moore says he will appeal the decision and believes this is a freedom of speech issue.

"We can't let the government chip away at our rights,” he said.

Moore says he believes he should be able to have LOCKHMUP on his license plate and someone else should be able to have LOCKHRUP on license plates.