The shooting of two legislators from the State of Minnesota has sent shock waves throughout the country. This gloomy development marks a disturbing climb: although violence is not new, its recent migration at the state and local level represents a worrying trend.

Violence against public officials has increased in recent years, including the two recent murder attempts in 2024 against President Donald Trump. The 2011 murder attempt against the representative Gabby Giffords, initially perceived as an anomaly at that time, now seems to have been a precursor to a growing tide of threats against an expanding sphere of elected officials.

This trend stood out in 2017 when a baseball practice of Congress in Alexandria, Virginia, was attacked by an individual motivated by political complaints. Five people were injured, including the majority whip Steve Scalise, when the gun unleashed a 70 -round hail.

In many of these cases, the investigations constantly revealed that the suspects housed real or perceived complaints against the politician or his political beliefs, and subsequently acted on those complaints.

TO 2015 study For the Secret Service of the United States, examining attacks against the federal government, Luz shed on the perpetrators. He found that criminals choose their objectives for reasons that include reprisals, the promotion of ideological beliefs, personal benefit or the search for fame and attention. Almost half of these criminals exhibited evidence of fixing: an intense or obsessive concern with an individual, activity or idea. More than half had previous arrests or criminal charges, and more than half had a history of violence against others.

In addition, he found the study, almost half communicated his intentions to others about the objective or directly with his objectives. A third of the criminals made threats or veiled references of damage through online publications, verbal comments, personal manifestos, letters and other media. Only three criminals communicated threats verbally and in person directly to their objectives.

The homeland of the National Security Department of 2025 (DHS) Threat evaluation He stressed these concerns, stating that “the 2024 electoral cycle will be an attractive objective for many adversaries.”

“Some domestic violent extremists (DVE) probably see a wide range of objectives indirectly and directly associated with elections as viable objectives for violence with the intention of instilling fear among voters, candidates and electoral workers, as well as to interrupt the electoral processes that lead to and after the November elections,” added the evaluation.

So why is this increase in directed violence happening?

A June 2024 Chapman University study It suggests “decreasing confidence levels in some of our most important social institutions and growing political divisions throughout society” as a possible cause. The study indicates a constant increase in threats against public officials since 2017, coinciding with a general increase in polarization after the 2016 presidential elections. In addition, he postulates that “the growing number of threats can represent a growing tolerance to violence between Americans and the formation of ‘a culture that helps normalize its use to express certain ideas and emotions’.”

The study identifies what they say are significant obstacles for effective responses, including the blurry line between protected speech and criminal threats and anonymity provided by digital technology.

As the study, the Digital Age points out, with its access to the “Dark Web”, the violent online content and the ease with which people can identify public officials, their residences and their activities, has created unprecedented guidance opportunities. This helps explain the Increased increase In violence at all levels of government, including state and local officials, a trend that unfortunately seems to continue.

For those in the public sphere, prioritize personal protection and implement basic security measures are crucial. These include alarm systems at home, security cameras to identify visitors and control who comes into contact with them. While being a public official and guaranteeing security can be conflicting and elusive objectives in this climate, these fundamental steps can significantly improve their safety.

Donald J. Mihalek is ABC news collaborator, retired senior secret service agent and regional field training instructor that served during two presidential transitions. He was also a police officer and served in the United States Coast Guard.

Richard Frankel is an ABC news collaborator and a special agent retired from the FBI who was the special agent in charge of the FBI Newark Division and before that, the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force.

The opinions expressed in this story are not those of ABC News.