Access to guns worsens the US political violence crisis, experts say

After the second apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump in two months, gun safety advocates say the episode underlines the perilous political landscape of potentially lethal violence against public officials in a nation where firearms outnumber people.

A 58-year-old man, identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, was apprehended by authorities on Sunday after Secret Service agents spotted the barrel of a rifle peeking through foliage at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the former president was playing golf. Routh appeared in federal court in Florida on Monday and was charged with federal gun crimes.

The incident came two months after a shooter opened fire at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one attendee, seriously injuring two others and grazing the ear of the former president.

Kamala Harris, in an interview on Tuesday with members of the National Association of Black Journalists, again denounced what the authorities are investigating as an assassination attempt against her Republican opponent.

Earlier in the interview, she reiterated her support for an assault weapons ban and other policy interventions aimed at reducing gun violence.

Experts say the rising tide of political violence is hardly unique to the US, but it is exceptionally deadly here.

When violence is legitimized as a political tool, she said, it risks spiraling out of control, unleashing a threat that looms over public officials of every ideology and at every level, from presidential candidates to lower level judges and election officials.

This week, bomb threats have forced evacuations and lockdowns of schools, the city hall and other government facilities in Springfield, Ohio, after Trump and other Republican politicians repeated the racist and false conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants there were kidnapping and eating pets.

Biden offered a sharp contrast with his predecessor, in remarks at a conference for historically Black colleges and universities in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon.

In another positive sign, just 5% of Americans said they were very or extremely likely to participate as a combatant if large-scale conflict broke out. Among this small minority, nearly half said they would be open to changing their minds if encouraged to do so by a family member, and a quarter said they would listen to friends.

Within the findings was a call to action, not just for public officials but for all Americans. Everyone has a role to play in de-escalating violence, Wintemute said.