Bloody policy: shots on democratic politicians and husband in Minnesota!

Bloody policy: shots on democratic politicians and husband in Minnesota!

Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, USA - The news strikes like a flash out of the blue: in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, the democratic politician Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman were killed by fatal shots. Governor Tim Walz confirmed the cruel incident and described the act as presumably politically motivated. The gruesome attack once again focuses on the tense Situation around political violence in the United States. Another attack had already occurred in a neighboring suburb, in which the democratic Senator John Hoffman and his wife were seriously injured and are in critical condition.

The investigation is in full swing. The alleged perpetrator is fleeting and is said to have been disguised as a police officer during the attack. Surprisingly, when checking the Hortman residential building, the emergency services came across a person who pretended to be a police officer. When the police confronted him, the wrong policeman opened the fire and was able to escape. A manifesto was found in his escape vehicle, in which several official persons are named. As a result, the security authorities had to initiate additional protective measures for the officials concerned. The police asked the residents of two suburbs to stay in their houses and the fear of politically motivated violence is growing steadily.

increasing threat

Walz as a committed politician and close girlfriend, who has served in parliament since 2004 and was once chairperson. Her murder shows how vulnerable political officials have become in the United States. Threats against them are now the order of the day, and the incident is part of a chain of similarly stored acts of violence. For example, the arson in the residence of the governor of Pennsylvania and an assassination attempt on Donald Trump during the election campaign caused horror. Trump himself spelled the shots in Minnesota, characterized it as a targeted attack on state employees and promised to hold all those involved in the acts with all the hardness of the law.

The topic of gun violence is a constant companion in the USA. An FBI study shows that the argumentation "more weapons for more security" is not based on solid facts. From 2000 to 2021 there were at least 433 active shootings, with a shooter endangered or killed several people in public locations. In 2021, an average of a fatal shoot happened more than once a week. Most of the shootings were already over before the police arrived, so that the theory of a "good guy with weapon" who can stop an attacker is not stable.

political reactions

already after the massacre, including in Uvalde, there were initial considerations to increase weapon controls in the USA. A draft law provides extended background reviews for arms buyers under the age of 21 and tries to temporarily take out dangerous owners. However, the question remains whether these measures are sufficient, given the fact that the Supreme Court of the United States has declared the wearing of firearms in public as a fundamental right.

The shocking events in Minnesota once again throw a bright light on the problems that society plagues in the United States and underline the high susceptibility to violent attacks in political space. The country faces the challenge of learning from these repetitions to prevent such tragedies in the future.

The next few days and weeks will show whether the investigators can find the fleeting perpetrator and whether security measures take effect to protect the life of the endangered officials. One question remains: How much politically motivated violence do we still have to put up with?