Via The Right Scoop, Rep. Eric Cantor announced that his office has received threats for his positions on issues as well as his Jewish heritage, and that one of his offices had a window shot out. He only spoke out about this to combat the unbalanced reporting of fringe threats against members of Congress. Cantor singled out DCCC chair Rep. Chris van Hollen for exploiting fringe threats for political gain, “fanning the flames” to “dangerous levels.” Cantor declared that “enough is enough,” and implored his colleagues from both parties to let law enforcement handle the threats from the political fringes:

I think Cantor put this very well. Threats of political violence come from the fringes of American debate, and represent no one and no movement except the lunatics who make the threats. The “I’m getting death threats” has become a tired meme in the American media, and a handy way for politicians to avoid the responsible accountability that mainstream Americans demand. And it’s not just Democrats who have indulged in that avoidance strategy in the past, although they’re certainly the culprits of the moment.

Here at Hot Air, we don’t tolerate threats of violence against either ourselves, other commenters, or elected representatives, nor do we tolerate calls for the overthrow of the American government by force. Those who indulge in that behavior will find their commenting privileges revoked without warning. We are a site devoted to engagement in the American political system, not a discussion board for militia movements, plenty of which exist elsewhere for those who want to participate in those discussions. If you choose to violate our terms of service, don’t bother e-mailing when your commenting privileges get revoked, because we’re not going to get into e-mail debates about it.

Update (AP): Cantor’s not the only Republican who’s been threatened recently (and, of course, not so recently). On a related note, here’s a fine short floor speech from Mike Pence. Stop the threats, stop the vandalism — and stop smearing law-abiding citizens who have done nothing wrong.