Local lawmakers on public officials' safety and the national political debate:
Rep. Virginia Foxx, U.S. Congress, N.C. 5th District (Republican):
"I don't think members of Congress incite that kind of rhetoric — I don't think the things we say incite that kind of behavior. And I don't know that the things other people say incite it. I just think we have deranged individuals in this country and occasionally they do bad things.
"This guy appears to be a communist. His beliefs are the liberal of the liberals. There is no evidence whatsoever that this man was influenced by Sarah Palin or anybody in the Republican Party. This man is not a conservative; he's a fan of communism — that's the opposite of conservatism.
"The members of Congress, we put ourselves out there, and we're willing to take whatever risk there is, but it is so sad that this involved innocent people. We never want anyone else to be harmed because of our positions."
Rep. Larry Womble, N.C. House of Representatives, Forsyth County (Democrat):
"I think to some degree, (the shooting in Arizona) speaks to what our country has come to. It should not be like that. People should be able to express our disagreements in a courteous and respectful way. I'm hoping we will learn from this. We need to move away from vile and derogatory and negative statements about any individual human being.
"When I first ran for the (Winston-Salem) Board of Aldermen back in the 1970s and '80s, I would get telephone calls, or notes — I remember things were written on my windshield. A few of them were of a threatening nature. Most of them were derogatory name calling. No African-American ever tried to run over there before.
"Times have certainly changed since the '70s and '80s. It's gotten more violent, it's gotten more derogatory, it's gotten more negative. These talking heads — I don't want to name any names, but those people who are the extreme left or right who advocate for drastic kinds of things and advocate for violence to solve or be the answer, that is very disturbing to me. When it comes to things like that, it seems like civility has lost its place."
Rep. Dale Folwell, N.C. House of Representatives, Forsyth County (Republican):
"Any time there is fear coupled with low confidence, coupled with economic turbulence, that's just a bad cocktail. And I'm not talking about the classic disagreements between liberals and conservatives or Democrats and Republicans. I'm talking about people's distrust in government as a whole. … But I think tragedies can occur whether the unemployment rate is at 2 percent or 20 percent, whether interest rates are at 2 percent or 20 percent, whether foreclosures are at 2 percent or 20 percent.
"I'm sure there are things regarding my safety as a member of the House of Representatives that are going on that I'm completely unaware of. There are probably people that are on a watch list or something they've done has been intercepted by some filter. Tragedies can occur, but we can't be paralyzed, either."
Compiled by Laura Graff
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