Missouri Capitol Police are searching for who placed orange cross-hair stickers outside the Capitol offices of five Democratic senators and one Republican lawmaker, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.
“We don’t have any explanation,” Democratic state Sen. Jolie Justus said on the Senate floor. “Many of us when we came back to our office this afternoon had gun targets on our nameplates. A few of the senators removed them, only to have them replaced by larger stickers later.”
Along with Justus, the stickers were near the offices of Democratic state Sens. Kiki Curls, Maria Chapelle-Nadal, Robin Wright-Jones and Victor Callahan. Another sticker was found outside the door of Republican state Rep. Scott Dieckhaus.
House Chief Clerk Adam Crumbliss hopes the stickers are "nothing more than" a prank. But the incident is being taken seriously in light of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who survived a gunshot wound to the head last year. The use of combat-related rhetoric and symbols in politics has become somewhat taboo since then.
"Whoever did that — if it was a group or an individual — I pray for those people, and I do believe there is a special place in hell for them," Chappelle-Nadal said.
The stickers were found as Missouri senators debated Republican-backed legislation that would require approval from the legislature or voters before the state could implement President Barack Obama’s health care law.
