Kirk slaying prompts US lawmakers to confront an old adversary: Threats to their lives

By Bo Erickson, Nolan D. McCaskill and David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Representative Rick Crawford was aware of the danger of political violence in the United States long before this week’s killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and he has his own coping strategy: a “keep-your-head-on-a-swivel type of an attitude.”

“I’ve always tried to maintain a high degree of situational awareness and be aware of what you’re walking into and understand what’s going on around you,” said Crawford, a 59-year-old former U.S. Army explosives technician.

Kirk’s shooting at an open-air event in Utah on Wednesday, which some lawmakers, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, are calling a political assassination, has sent shockwaves through the U.S. political firmament, prom