(C) Minnesota Reformer
This story was originally published by Minnesota Reformer and is unaltered.
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Toxic political culture and easy access to guns is a recipe for tragedy • Minnesota Reformer [1]
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Date: 2025-07-15
The horrific political assassination of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman and the shooting of Yvette and state Sen. John Hoffman could have been a mass slaughter.
Police found five firearms in the shooter’s SUV, including assault rifles with a “large quantity of ammunition organized into loaded magazines.” They recovered close to 50 guns from his home. The shooter had a long list of targets. If Hope Hoffman had not called 911, it’s likely more people –– including more of Minnesota’s top elected officials –– would have been injured or killed.
This tragedy puts into stark relief a rising threat: Our toxic politics combined with easy access to firearms is increasing the risk of political violence and undermining our democratic system.
The Minnesota attacks are merely the most recent examples of a surge in political violence, including the mass shooting at a congressional baseball practice, the attack at the U.S. Capitol, the assault of Nancy Pelosi’s husband, and two attempted assassinations of President Trump. Political violence is increasing in the United States, and the American public views it as a major problem.
This rise in political violence coincides with our increasing negative polarization –– how much Americans dislike the political party opposing their own. Although polarization is not a problem unique to the United States, Americans’ feelings of animosity toward members of the opposing political party have increased faster over time than similar democracies. The social media response to the Minnesota attacks demonstrated the ignominious depths of our affective polarization; posts, many rife with misinformation, were primarily focused on whether the shooter was a Democrat or Republican, rather than condemning the violence itself.
This toxic political environment is taking place in a country with high levels of gun violence and easy access to firearms. Americans are 26 times more likely to be killed by gun homicide than people in other high-income countries. We do not have more violent citizens; rather we have gun laws that make it easy for dangerous people to get a gun.
In Minnesota, you have to obtain a permit to purchase a firearm and/or a permit to carry, but in many states, there are no such requirements. And while federally licensed dealers must conduct background checks on their gun sales, there’s a loophole in many states where dealers at gun shows and online (who are not federally licensed) conduct no background check whatsoever.
Hortman worked to close that loophole in Minnesota in 2023, but many states continue to have private sales with no check at all. And there is currently a federal concealed carry bill that would usurp the ability of states to regulate the carrying of firearms in their states, and make it even easier for those with bad intentions to transport firearms across state lines.
When a formerly law-abiding citizen radicalizes without showing outward signs, it is challenging to identify him as a person who should not have access to a firearm. This may or may not be the case with Hortmans’ murderer; law enforcement is just beginning its investigation. But in states with extreme risk protection orders, like Minnesota, law enforcement at least has a tool in situations where someone is spiraling out of control. States with stronger gun laws — like background checks on all gun sales, extreme risk protection orders, and assault weapon bans — have lower rates of gun violence. Conversely, states with the weakest gun laws have some of the highest rates.
What happened in Minnesota strikes at the very core of our political system. Elected officials must be able to serve the public without fear that they’re going to be gunned down in their homes. Enacting effective public policy, especially in divided government, is challenging in the best of times, let alone under threat of violence. And if potential leaders fear that threat, they may choose not to run and represent their communities in the first place.
Lax gun laws make political violence that much easier and more deadly, and accordingly, gun safety reform is an essential tool in combating it.
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[1] Url:
https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/07/15/toxic-political-culture-and-easy-access-to-guns-is-a-recipe-for-tragedy/
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