New Report: Armed Threats to Federal Lawmakers, Female Legislators, and Legislators of Color Increased After January 6th Insurrection

Washington DC — On the second anniversary of the January 6th Capitol insurrection, Giffords Law Center published a new report showing that in the months after the attack, armed threats against federal lawmakers increased as assailants disproportionately targeted female legislators and legislators of color, marking a dangerous trend that continues to threaten US democracy.

“The January 6th insurrection was a wakeup call to all Americans that our democracy is under threat. We simply cannot ignore our current radical political environment where armed individuals are emboldened to threaten our elected leaders, especially those who are women and people of color. As we remember the lives lost two years ago, we’re committing to using every tool at our disposal to prevent the use of guns from eroding the foundation of American democracy. By passing gun safety laws and holding reckless and dangerous actors accountable, we can protect our communities and our nation.”

Giffords Law Center reviewed more than 150 federal indictments of individuals charged with threatening federal elected officials between January 2016 and September 2022 and found both a disturbing rise in threats that invoked guns and a disturbing trend in who these individuals were targeting. 

Some of the findings in this report include:

• In the months since the Capitol attack (January 2021 to October 2022), 63% of threats invoked firearms. This was a stark increase from previous years as from 2016 to 2020 an average of 45% of threats to federal lawmakers invoked firearms.

• Women legislators were disproportionately threatened with guns: 62% of all threats towards women lawmakers invoked firearms. Women lawmakers were threatened disproportionately as nearly half of all indictments (48%) involved threats towards women legislators despite them holding far fewer seats in Congress.

• More than half (53%) of the threats made to legislators of color involved threats of gun violence. Legislators of color received a disproportionate amount of harassment with 38% of all indictments reviewed involving threats to legislators of color. One of these threats included a message left for Senator Raphael Warnock in which the assailant said that “three cars of armed patriots [were] heading into DC from New York” with their “guns cleaned and loaded . . . just waiting for the word.”
• More than half (52%) of these threats were targeted towards Democrats. Around 38% of these threats were aimed towards Republicans, often those who were critical of former President Trump. Despite more Democratic lawmakers being threatened, Republicans and Democrats did receive similar rates of armed threats at 53% and 59%, respectively.

The report also summarizes how firearms exacerbated political extremism in the U.S. as 2020 saw a record-breaking 65% increase in gun sales in response to the racial justice protests in the summer, the 2020 election, and after the January 6 attack. This combined with the fact that early research suggests that events like the Capitol Insurrection can actually increase public approval of future political violence underscore a catastrophic threat to our democracy and the safety of the American public.

In the report, Giffords Law Center recommends the following policies and practices to help ensure that this trend of armed extremism doesn’t overtake America’s democratic institutions:

• Prohibiting all guns in government buildings, state and local government meetings, and other places where elected officials regularly congregate or where people exercise their democratic rights.
• Prohibiting open carry, particularly at permitted protests and demonstrations. 
• Repealing state preemption statutes and allowing local governments to pass laws about where and when guns can be carried.

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Our experts can speak to the full spectrum of gun violence prevention issues. Have a question? Email us at media@giffords.org.

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