Chicago Tribune

Steve Lopez: He surveyed 8,600 Americans about political violence. The results are beyond scary

Protesters enter the Senate Chamber on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Two men photographed carrying zip-ties in the U.S. Capitol Wednesday were charged Sunday in a federal court in the District of Columbia.

When UC Davis violence researcher Dr. Garen Wintemute queried Americans on political violence, race and threats to democracy, he didn't know exactly how scary the results would be.

"We expected the findings to be concerning, but these exceed our worst expectations," said Wintemute, a go-to source of mine for many years on gun violence, which he witnesses firsthand as an emergency room physician in Sacramento.

The by Wintemute and his team at the Violence Prevention Research Program was released by UC Davis on Wednesday, on the eve of the last round of congressional into the Jan. 6 takeover of the Capitol. The findings were posted by , a health sciences website that lists works in progress prior to peer review.

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