The number of death threats against members of Congress has jumped sharply in the last year, rising as much as 300 percent according to some counts, Politico reported Tuesday.
The FBI provided information on several recent death threat investigations to the newspaper, including a case where a mentally ill man left threatening voicemail message for Rep. Health Shuler (D-N.C.) and another case where a man in a van threatened Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) when he was walking with his daughter.
Other members who have received threats in the past year including Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Reps. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.).
According to the FBI, most of the perpetrators are men, several of whom own guns and suffer from mental illness. Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer told Politico that threats against lawmakers have spiked 300 percent in the last year.
For more, see the Politico story here.
