While political assassinations remain rare in the U.S., the threat to judges appears to be on the rise, according to a 2016 study of public figure attacks. The study by forensic psychologist J. Reid Meloy and former FBI profiler Molly Amman, which looked at public figure attacks between 1995 and 2015, found that state and federal judges were the subjects of 16 percent of the attacks they identified. An earlier Secret Service study looking at public figure attacks between 1949 and 1996 found federal judges were the subject of only about 5 percent of attacks during that period.

“I think the risk toward the judiciary is very real at the local, state, and federal level,” Meloy, who consults with the FBI, told National Review. “Comparatively to the second half of the 20th Century, there has been an increase in attacks on the judiciary in the United States. And I think our data speaks clearly to the need for body protection and personal security around the judges.”

A 2020 poll of 572 judges conducted by the National Judicial College found that nearly three-quarters said they are not satisfied with the security measures taken by their court, and 84 percent believe the security for their families is inadequate. One Colorado judge told pollsters that with minimal planning “anyone could walk in off the street and blow my brains out without resistance.” Another judge, commenting anonymously, stated, “Our court does nearly nothing. I carry a handgun with me everywhere.”