Jun. 24—A more cynical fellow might wonder, given our legal system’s burgeoning fetish with “mitigating circumstances,” whether the six people arrested after protesting climate change Sunday at the Travelers Championship — and startling the stuffing out of thousands of patrons — barely earn the old metaphorical slap on the wrist.

They have the right to protest, you know.

They needed a forum big enough so people hear the message, you know.

There’s nothing wrong with being environmentally conscious, you know.

But for the rest of the cattle, who for several scary seconds felt somewhere between uneasy and fearful; the rest of us cattle, who simply want consequences applied to those who threaten public safety?

Maybe there’s someone left who makes laws, enforces laws or argues them in court still interested in the concept of consequences?

Because amid all the mitigating circumstances we may hear about the six environmentally conscious and morally unconscious protesters, here’s the most important thing to remember:

“I was scared for my life,” PGA golfer Akshay Bhatia told reporters after the incident. Bhatia was on the 18th green at the time with Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim.

“I didn’t even really know what was happening,” he said. “But thankfully the cops were there and kept us safe, because that’s, you know, that’s just weird stuff.”

Remember that and write it down: He feared for his life.

And this is a 22-year-old professional athlete. Can you imagine what others must have thought?

See, this trumps whatever other mitigating circumstances advocates for the protesters can regurgitate. They went into a public forum and made people fear for their lives.

They ran down the hill and through the greenside bunkers with red and white smoke canisters. They stormed the 18th green. They sprayed white and red powder from the canisters, leaving stains on the grass.

How was anyone else to know what was in those canisters?

How was anyone else to know they weren’t armed?

The Cromwell Police Department — mad props and bon mots to all the officers — charged all six with first-degree criminal mischief, first-degree criminal trespass and breach of peace. First-degree criminal mischief and first-degree criminal trespass carry potential jail terms of one to five years in Connecticut.

Sounds good from this corner.

“The reason for their protesting will not be released, as the department does not want to give their cause any more attention than what has already been received,” Cromwell police said.

Understood. But honestly, I’d like to know. Call it morbid curiosity. Four of the protesters wore white T-shirts that read, “No golf on a dead planet.”

Hard to argue that. But then, there’s no nothing on a dead planet. Example: There are no Slurpees and Slim Jims on a dead planet either. And yet they didn’t storm the nearest 7-Eleven.

No, they chose a public forum and left thousands of people momentarily frightened.

All six were processed and each was released on a $5,000 cash/surety bond. They are scheduled to appear July 1 at Middletown Superior Court.

I have zero faith they will get jail time. Does anyone nowadays? I mean, look around. Locally, we have poor Crystal Caldwell, the local hotel clerk who was beaten up on video in Mystic four years ago this Wednesday. Four years. Think about that. Four years. And her assailants are still terrorizing society.

Or the man wielding some kind of gun at Poquonnock Plains Park a few weeks back. Witnesses said they ran in fear of their lives. Think he’s going to jail? I don’t.

Then the granddaddy of them all: Law enforcement telling us “there’s nothing they can do” about the dirt bikers threatening our streets, leaving the rest of us scared and powerless. I’m not sure whether police won’t apply the law or don’t have enough law to apply. But does anyone care?

I’m thinking I dump the entirety of my Christmas list in December and simply ask Santa for an influx of prosecutors and judges who are as irritated as I am. And that they continue to show up to work in a bad mood.

I fully appreciate that the right to protest is what separates us from (most) everyone else. But the means and methods of Sunday’s six miscreants have no place in society. There ought to be commensurate punishment. But why do I have the feeling they’ll be storming the green somewhere else next summer?

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro