Thread by @egavactip

Based on 25+ years of anecdotal observation, here are a few things I've learned about terroristic threats such as these.

1. Most have no chance of actually being followed through on; they're main effect is the threat/intimidation factor on the victim.

2. Although you might

https://twitter.com/egavactip/status/1441499701145178120

think that extremists would make up the majority of these threat cases, they seem rather to be in the minority. Many threat cases are made by people with more or less "mainstream" views, but who are particularly unstable, volatile, and/or incitable.

3. Quite a few threat cases are actually made by inmates of jails/prisons. Not surprisingly, these actors may make threats for ideological/partisan reasons, but also for personal reasons bc of how they perceive they've been treated or how angry they are at judges, attny, etc.

4. I can't say with certainty what proportion, but a number of these cases involve people with mental issues.

5. Some threateners are serial threat-makers, people who cannot control their own impulses to launch such threats, but most perpetrators are "one and done," having

apparently learned the lesson that sending threats to people is not a good idea.

6. Some people may later escalate from making threats to engaging in acts or attempted acts of violence against such target, but the impression I've received over the years is that most don't.

7. Here I've been talking primarily about threats against gov't/public figures. Threats can be launched against many other types of targets and those threats may possibly have different dynamics than the ones I've observed here.