In under a decade, violence has become a shockingly regular feature of American political life. In 2017, a left-wing extremist shot and nearly killed Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and four other people. In 2021, a mass of right-wing insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to stop the Democratic president-elect, Joe Biden, from taking office. And in this year’s presidential campaign, there have, as of this writing, been two thwarted assassination attempts against Republican nominee Donald Trump, along with a torrent of threats directed at political figures of all stripes.