Fatal Minnesota shooting renews security concerns for officials

Two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses were shot Sunday in the quiet of their homes, killing two — a horrific crime that revives the conversation about security concerns for elected officials serving at all levels of government.

It’s sad to say this isn’t an aberration.

On the federal level, we saw then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords shot during a constituent meeting in 2011. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked in his home in 2022. A man plotted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh that same year.

And it’s not just those with high profiles in Washington D.C. Indiana’s public servants have seen its own fair share of concerning behavior.

U.S. Sen. Jim Banks was threatened by a constituent when he was in the U.S. House. In his messages, the man said he owned a gun as allowed by the Constitution and told Banks to choose between himself or his daughters, according to the June 2 probable cause filing.

“Here’s the choice. Your daughters grow up without their dad or you grow old without your daughters,” he allegedly said. “… boom, boom, you pick …”

He received probation.

State Rep. Chris Judy sought and received a protective order in 2017 after a constituent contacted him more than 50 times in one day, asked for his home address and sent a letter to his wife.

State Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, was attacked in 2016, though it was unrelated to his legislative service. He suffered five broken bones and a broken eye socket.

Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush in 2024 asked lawmakers for new money to help improve security in courthouses throughout the state. She told lawmakers there was an unprecedented level of threats against judicial officers, noting a survey found about 75% of Indiana judges surveyed reported being threatened.

And this is a woman who knows about threats. In 1998, a man broke into her home and attacked her husband. She had just been elected a juvenile judge and had to escape through a second-floor window to call police.

Luckily, no one died in any of those.

But on Sunday, Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, did.

The question everyone is asking now is how to stop this political violence. I wish I had the answer. I think the mental health system is overtaxed and underfunded, and people have forgotten how to deal constructively with their frustration.

A number of states are removing addresses of lawmakers from official websites, which might help in some situations but only targets the symptoms and not the cause. As a journalist, I am torn on this because there are legitimate reasons to know an elected official’s address.

Here are some examples that I have personally used them for:

• Seeing who was drawn into or out of districts during redistricting
• Tying donations to causes or groups
• Matching criminal cases or infractions to public servants
• Connecting lawmakers to corporations or partnerships to identify conflicts of interest

I would hate for that work to be lost. A middle ground might be making reporters physically trek to a Statehouse or courthouse to find the data. So, it would still be available but would add some inconvenience.

Honestly, I can generally find an address for people with a quick online search. So I think, in a way, it’s trying to put the genie back in the bottle. There just isn’t a way to stop someone intent on harming another person.

I think many of these perpetrators just feel lost and unheard by their government. They are lost in a sea of voices and many of those serving refuse to interact with constituents. Perhaps because of these exact situations.

It’s a no-win situation for everyone involved.