February 15, 2024
4 min reading
American elected officials must protect public health and the foundations of our democracy by limiting the intrusion of weapons into politics
![The roof of the U.S. Capitol is visible through a gallows erected by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/88D30DA8-EA4C-4E01-9497FDE45CA0C757_source.jpg?w=600)
Trump supporters near the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Three years later the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the United States finds itself at the crossroads of democracy. Inflamed by inciting rhetoric, a “deeply worrying increase” in threats against elected officials and suspected political enemies has prompted increased attention from the Department of Justice. These threats are even more frightening when combined with permissive access to firearms in the United States, the public display of firearms, and too often, their use.
Our country’s election officials and poll workers are already in the crosshairs of those who seek to undermine democracy through intimidation, including MAGA politicians and their supporters. A 2022 poll from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, one in six election officials say they have been threatened because of their work. More than half expressed concerns about the safety of their fellow election workers. The same poll found that 30 percent of officials knew one or more election workers who left their post in part out of fear for their safety. A jury also recently awarded $148 million to Georgia election officials. for damages due to Rudy Giuliani’s false conspiracy theories that led to racist threats and harassment after the 2020 election. Given these facts, it stands to reason that the threat of armed intimidation can make people less likely to participate in our democratic process, whether as candidates, poll workers or voters.
In political spaces, guns endanger both public health and elections. Despite spiraling threats and angry rhetoric in recent years, political violence, particularly with guns, is not inevitable in the United States. Elected officials can and should act before this year’s November general election to protect public health, civil rights and liberties, and the foundation of our democracy: voting.
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Understandably, much of the attention paid to the January 6 Capitol insurrection concerns its mass violence, trespassing, destruction of property, theft and worse. But there is much less discussion about what did not happen. Namely the absence of armed violence on the part of the rioters. It wasn’t a coincidence. Members of the Oath Keepers admitted to court that they had stored firearms in Virginia before January 6 due to Washington’s strict gun laws. Compare this with the intimidation voters faced armed “poll observers” in the 2022 midterm elections in Arizona, a state with permissive gun laws. These contrasting examples highlight the value of such laws and the potential consequences of their absence.
Threats of violence, particularly gun violence, are shaping perceptions of American democracy as the 2024 elections approach. In a December survey, 83 percent of Americans Express concern about the threat of political violence in the United States today. Along the same lines, a 2023 survey conducted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that 84% of the nearly 300 respondents former members of Congress were concerned about election-related violence this year. Their fears are confirmed by elected officials and candidates who continue to minimize, excuse, and even encourage the insurrection, thus creating the conditions necessary for the repetition of such incidents. Former President Trump famously predicted ‘chaos’ whether the criminal charges he faces affect the outcome of the upcoming election, and he has failed to categorically reject political violence.
Americans therefore see violence looming on the horizon, but they do not have to succumb to it. If something can be predicted, then it can be avoided with the right tools.
My colleagues and I at the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health recently published a report detailing policy and practice recommendations as lawmakers can move forward to help reduce threats of political violence. A good start would be to ban civilian possession of firearms in places essential to political participation, such as polling places and legislative buildings, as well as during protests, to protect the essential functions of the government. We can help prevent attacks by adopting and implementing Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) laws temporarily disarming people judged by a court to be at high risk of violence. Beyond isolated individuals, our leaders must also better regulate extremist militiaslike those who participated in the January 6 insurrection, and relax or repeal state preemption laws that prevent local governments from making laws more protective than state law.
Finally, and perhaps most critically, all Americans must openly denounce the violence and other intimidation tactics used by insurrectionists. This behavior thrives in silence. We must resist the threat of violence and show that it has no place in our country.
Evidence-based security measures can make a significant difference in preventing gun political violence and intimidation. We are already seeing these differences in some states. For example, Virginia And Colorado have implemented a series of laws to promote voter safety and participation in the democratic process since 2021. Both states have banned guns at polling places and in their capitols. However, more needs to be done at the local, state and federal levels. Other lawmakers must adopt similar protections in their own states.
As the 2024 election cycle gets underway and millions of Americans head to the polls, there is still time to strengthen our democracy. Elected officials must not only condemn dangerous rhetoric that fuels the flames of violence, but also promote concrete gun safety measures that preserve public health, safety, and the heart of American democracy: our elections.
This is an opinion and analysis article, and the opinions expressed by the author(s) are not necessarily those of Scientific American.