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With firmness, to nip it in the bud, before it can spin out of control.

This doesn’t necessarily imply singling people out and making examples out of them, but it does mean holding them accountable. For example, Capitol rioters should be prosecuted for the crimes they committed and punished in line with the standing sentencing guidelines. In other words, treated the same as other criminals.

As another example, Anthony Francis Nero (no mugshot available yet) of Eagleville, Pennsylvania, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with cyberstalking, sending threatening messages, and shooting into an unoccupied Democratic Party office in nearby Norristown, The Hill reported on Saturday, February 6, 2021. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison and $500,000 of fines. (Read story here.)

Eagleville and Norristown are Philadelphia exurbs, in Montgomery County, which historically was moderate Republican but is now solidly Democratic (details here). Trump lost this county by 20-point-plus margins in 2016 (here) and 2020 (here).

Mr. Nero, of course, is entitled to a presumption of innocence. He also could have kept his mouth shut after being arrested, but didn’t. He told the FBI “he was mad about shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ‘abundant evidence available relating to the theft of the election’ by President Biden,” according to The Hill.

Having admitted his guilt, the only question is what the plea bargain will look like. If the prosecutor bargains down on the charges, which often happens, then he’ll be officially guilty of only the specific charges he pleads guilty to. Motive isn’t an element of the crimes, but can be a sentencing consideration. The fact these crimes were, in essence, political violence is something the court definitely should take into consideration.

Political violence is the norm in many countries. While American politics have always been contentious, and often rowdy, and there’s been occasional paroxyms of violence on the radical fringes (e.g., the Oklahoma City bombing), our society has been comparatively free of political violence and we should want very much to keep it that way. To do that, when it gets started, we need to squelch it.

We all have a role to play in this. As individuals, we shouldn’t accept it. The media should report it, and opinion journalists should condemn it. The police should pursue suspects, prosecutors should charge them for the crimes they committed that can be proven in a court of law, juries should convict those who are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and judges should orate the appropriate lectures from the bench and not let them off lightly.

But I’m not sure it can still work that way in our highly polarized society. See, e.g., the acquittal of the terrorists who seized the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, although one of them was killed when he tried to run down FBI agents and shoot state troopers (read that story here); that criminal is now held up as a martyr by the radical rightwing fringe.

The very real possibility of rogue jurors — it takes only one to deadlock a jury — who won’t convict perpetrators of political violence gives prosecutors an incentive to cut deals with the Capitol rioters and people like Mr. Nero. However, once guilt is established, by either plea or verdict, judges have a more-or-less free hand in sentencing.

It’s encouraging, although not surprising, that Republican judges steadfastly held to the rule of law throughout the contentious 2020 election aftermath in which the loser tried to substitute mob rule, and then political violence, for the Constitution and election results. Being a lawyer for decades, and having been a judge, I can attest this is a group of people — whatever their individual partisan orientation may be — very much inured to the rule of law, and very much against mob violence and political violence. That’s why, when Trump when shopping for judges who would overturn the election for him, he found no takers. Not a single one.

So, when Mr. Nero is sentenced, it won’t matter whether the judge is a Republican or a Democrat, the sentencing result is going to be the same. As it should be. let’s say he draws a Republican judge. He or she will take into consideration whether someone was hurt (no one was), and whether the defendant recognizes the wrongness of his actions and is remorseful (this seems unlikely, but if Nero has any brains, which is highly debatable, he’ll parrot the script his public defender gave him, and made him practice until he got it down), and will not overlook the fact that a gun was fired.

Vandalism is one thing, shooting is another. A brick through a window is not the same thing as a bullet through a window. At least it shouldn’t be, when sentencing someone for political violence. Sentencing should be proportional; a bat should get a stiffer sentence than a fist, and bullets should get a stiffer sentence than a brick. (As another example, someone who tosses a Molotov cocktail into a police car should get a stiffer sentence then someone who keys a police car.)

I can’t tell you, after Nero pleads guilty, exactly how much time he should get. But he should get time. And his political motives should result in more, not less, time. That’s because of the potential for political violence to escalate and explode out of control if it isn’t squelched.

In short, Nero should get a no-nonsense sentence from a no-nonsense judge that sends a no-nonsense message the civil society is in control and isn’t going to put up with political violence. And if the judge is a Republican, that’s even better.

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