A Call to Protect Democracy from Political Violence
him from accessing firearms. Extreme Risk Protection Order laws, also known as ERPOs, or “red flag” laws, allow family members or law enforcement to petition a court to temporarily disarm people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. States that have implemented ERPO laws have seen promising results in preventing suicides, mass shootings, and other acts of violence by intervening before a crisis reaches a breaking point. Could an ERPO have prevented the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania? Until they pass the policy, which has been introduced in the state Legislature for several years running, all we know is the cost of its absence: unaddressed warning signs and deadly consequences.
Which brings us to the good news: We don’t have to live in constant fear of political violence.
To counter the ideology that drives political violence, we must refrain from normalizing the permission structure that condones it. Voters must promote civil discourse and foster a political climate in which differences are settled through dialogue, even if in disagreement. Political leaders bear a significant responsibility. They must come together on this central tenet of our democracy, to make clear that violence is not an acceptable form of political expression. By choosing words of unity rather than derision, especially in the heat of an election cycle, they can help de-escalate tensions and promote a more peaceful society.
Second, we must put some limits on the deadly tools that enable political violence. Is creating a process to temporarily remove guns from people at an immediate risk of violence too much of an inconvenience? Is requiring gun owners — especially parents — to secure their weapons too high a bar? Many states, like Michigan and Minnesota, are strengthening their gun laws, but too many states are not. The attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump, and the mass shooting it became, is a wake-up call for the nation. There will continue to be an abundance of political energy spent analyzing how the Secret Service failed to protect him and rally attendees. We implore our elected representatives to use equal amounts of energy to quell political violence and the loose gun laws that enable it. As a nation, we failed to prevent this shooting. We must act now to prevent it from happening again.
Joshua Horwitz, JD, is the co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Tim Carey, JD, is a law and policy adviser for the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. This article is published courtesy of The Trace.
