A little over three months ago, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was assassinated in a politically-motivated attack. The suspected killer, Luigi Mangione, has been met with praise by many as the killing is seen as a necessary attack against a hated health insurance system.

While I can’t say I am overwhelmed with sympathy for the CEO of a health insurance company, I am able to recognize the dangers of a country that resorts to political violence and the need for it to be condemned.

The first and most obvious danger is that you have no control over who is killed. There is no Reddit forum where a name is posted and people vote on who to kill. It is with very good reason that people centuries ago decided to establish democracies. All it takes for an assassination is one angry person, a deadly object and some luck.

The motive and method behind Brian Thompson’s assassination are not fundamentally different from those of Lincoln, MLK or JFK. The only difference is how people perceive the justifications behind each act.

It would also be naive to say that there wasn’t celebration by many people after the killings of Abraham Lincoln and MLK. Political violence is a messy, random and brutal way to try and enact change. It also is most generally used as a way to control a population such as Putin poisoning competition or KKK members intimidating voters.

Given the randomness of political violence, the positive reactions to the killing of Brian Thompson should seriously frighten you. We are only slightly removed from the violent insurrection on Jan. 6. Close to 70 percent of Republicans believe that the 2020 election was illegitimate. Concurrently, Republicans control the presidency, house, Senate and have a majority in the Supreme Court.

Not to mention one of Trump’s first executive actions was to pardon all “individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.” If both sides of the political aisle devolve into violence, it should be very clear who will win that battle.

It is very important right now not to add fire or provide an excuse for an administration that has already shown a propensity for political violence. The Insurrection Act, established in 1792, allows the president to call on the militia of any state and use them as deemed necessary if the president, “considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any state by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.”

Trump almost enacted the Insurrection Act during the George Floyd protests, and now says he regrets not doing so. The Constitution protects the writ of habeas corpus, the right to challenge unlawful detention, except for “in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion [where] public Safety may require it.”

Lincoln utilized this during the Civil War during what he rightfully called a rebellion. Recently some Republican governors have labeled the migrant surge as an invasion. Greg Abbott of Texas used the label of invasion to justify placing barriers in the Rio Grande which otherwise would have been against federal law.

Given the violent tendencies of the current Republican party, it should be obvious that my argument is not made in vain. Quite the opposite, people should be writing letters and pressuring their representatives. We should be protesting, marching and making our voices heard. What we are experiencing right now is very far from normal.

I cannot do anything but condemn political violence except for in the most extreme cases. It would be wholly ignorant to say that all peaceful options to create change have been exhausted, especially in a country that undeniably exercises free and fair elections and where young people exercise their right to vote far less than those older than them.

For these reasons, when the very public assassination of a health insurance CEO is met with large amounts of celebration, it should very seriously frighten you. Given the proper motivation, it is very likely Trump will utilize the military in violent crackdowns. Political violence of all kinds in the U.S. should be condemned no matter how much you agree with the justification.

Ethan Walz can be reached at [email protected].