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Professor David Cohen Comments on Donald Trump’s Second Amendment Remarks in Rolling Stone Essay

David S. Cohen

August 10, 2016

GOP Presidential Nominee Donald Trump’s remarks regarding potential court appointments by his adversary echo terroristic threats made against abortion providers, Professor David S. Cohen wrote in an essay Rolling Stone published on Aug. 9.

“One of the two major-party nominees for president just called for ‘Second Amendment people’ to ‘do’ something about his political opponent's judges,” Cohen wrote, referring to Trump’s comments at a rally about judicial appointments that Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton would make if elected president.

Trump’s comments amount to “stochastic terrorism,” Cohen said, explaining that the process involves inciting random actors to carry out violent acts.

“Predicting any one particular individual following his call to use violence against Clinton or her judges is statistically impossible,” Cohen wrote. “But we can predict that there could be a presently unknown lone wolf who hears his call and takes action in the future.”

Cohen goes on to examine parallels in the threats and violence aimed at abortion providers, which he and co-author Krysten Connon, ’12, documented in their Oxford University Press book, “Living in the Crosshairs: the Untold Story of Anti-Abortion Terrorism.”