Minnesota shooting: Congress Holds Urgent Security Briefings.

More About Minnesota Shooting.

Following the murder of a Minnesota state lawmaker, Congressmen will participate in emergency briefings this week amid growing concerns over the security of federal legislators both in Washington and at home, so aggravating already existing partisan tensions.

Apart from the state legislators and others he claimed to have targeted, the suspect in the attack had scores of federal legislators mentioned in his writings. 

Early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs, the man is accused of shooting and killing Melissa Hortman, a former Democratic House Speaker, and her husband, Mark; he also wounded another lawmaker and his wife at their house.

The shootings follow credible threats to Congressmen more than twice over the past ten years, the alarming count of a time marked by several violent attacks directed against legislators and their families.

At an event in her Arizona district, Democratic Representative Gabby Giffords was shot and injured in 2011. 

While practicing for a congressional baseball game with other GOP legislators close to Washington in 2017, Republican Rep. Steve Scalise was shot and wounded. 

Paul, the husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was assaulted by a man breaking into their San Francisco house in 2022. 

Two men separately also sought to kill Donald Trump during his Republican presidential campaign in 2024.

All four lived, some with major injuries. 

Among other close calls for members of both major political parties, those attacks have shaken legislators and begged regular questions about whether they have enough security and whether they can ever be really safe in their employment.

“I don’t have a solution to this right now,” Minnesota Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, a friend of Hortman’s who got more security following the attack, remarked.  “I merely see so clearly that this current state of play is not sustainable.”

Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy claimed legislators are “clearly at the point where we have to adjust the options available to us.”

The threat assessment section of the U.S. Capitol Police looked at 9,474 “concerning statements and direct threats” against Congress members last year, the highest number since 2021, the year Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol following his attempt to reverse his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. 

The Capitol Police reported 3,939 investigated threats in 2017.

Said Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who spent ten years serving the state Senate before he became governor, Congress members may be high profile but they do have some resources accessible that might not be available to state and municipal legislators. 

“It just wasn’t feasible all the time” said Republican Rounds in the state legislature regarding more security.

Congressmen have had access to fresh money to add security at their individual homes as threats have grown.  It is unknown, though, how many have made use of it and whether sufficient funds exist to keep legislators genuinely safe.

The Minnesota shootings have generated fresh internal conflict rather than gathering legislators together.  Monday Smith confronted Utah Republican Mike Lee, one of her fellow senators, for a string of X over weekend postings. 

One parodied Democrat running for vice president last year, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.  “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way,” another piece claimed of the murders.

Declaring the Democratic leader to be “so whacked out,” Trump said he had no intention of calling Walz.

“For what reason would I call him?  “Hi, how are you doing?” the Republican president asked reporters seated on Air Force One during an overnight flight back to Washington.  “The man is completely clueless. 

He is a mess.  You know, I could be friendly and call him; but, why waste time?

Interviews with friends and former colleagues conducted by The Associated Press revealed Vance Luther Boelter, the man accused of killing Hortman and her husband, as a devoted Christian who visited an evangelical church and attended Trump’s campaign rallies. 

Records reveal Boelter registered as a Republican living in Oklahoma in 2004 before moving to Minnesota, where voters do not indicate party affiliation.  His lawyer has not answered questions.

As soon as Smith got in Washington on Monday, she spoke with Lee outside of a GOP conference meeting.  She remarked to reporters later, “I would say he seemed surprised to be confronted.”

Calling out Lee’s comments on the Senate floor, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said that for him to “fan the flames of division with falsities, while the killer was still on the loose, is greatly irresponsible.” 

He should remove his postings and promptly apologies to the victim families.

Lee’s office turned down a comment request.

Before the shootings, legislators were already on edge; less than two days had passed since Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla was forcefully taken from a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in California. 

Police restrained Padilla and laid him on the ground.

Thursday afternoon, enraged Democratic senators swiftly descended upon the Senate floor to criticize Padilla’s treatment. 

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker remarked, “What was really hard for me to see was that a member of this body was driven to his knees and made to kneel before authorities.” 

“This is a test.”  This is a crossroads.

Senate Democrats say at a Tuesday briefing they intend to question Republican leadership and security personnel about Padilla’s exclusion from the press conference and their defense against outside threats.