North Dakota Democratic Party Official Says She Was Threatened After Heated Gun Rights Debate With Republican Lawmaker

Over the weekend, a crowd of pro-2nd amendment folks gathered at the state capitol in Bismarck for an event called the “Shall Not Be Infringed Rally.”

Unfortunately, some of the online discussion about the rally got a little ugly, as online discussions are wont to do.

Ondine Baird, an official in the North Dakota Democratic Party and sitting member of the Democratic National Committee, claims her back-and-forth with state Rep. Rick Becker (R-Bismarck) on got so ugly it resulted in threats to herself and her family.

She had said at one point she was going to contact law enforcement, but told my colleague John Hageman she eschewed law enforcement in favor of…a private detective?

Meanwhile, a state Democratic-NPL official wrote on social media that she received “multiple threats” after pointing out the OMB policy on Becker’s Facebook page ahead of Sunday’s rally.

Dina Baird, the party’s national committeewoman, said she would inform the Bismarck Police Department about the threats. She said the threats didn’t come from Becker, but she blamed the lawmaker for riling up gun rights supporters. […]

In a text message, Baird declined to elaborate on her social media posts and said she was working with a private detective before going to police.

Becker told Hageman he’s skeptical of Baird’s claims but condemned any threats which might have actually happened. Which is about where I’m at.

Nobody should be making threats. That’s not defensible.

[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]I worked as a private detective for a decade, and I can tell you the cops are better equipped to handle someone making threats.[/mks_pullquote]

Still, if your family was threatened, wouldn’t you contact law enforcement? Baird’s excuse is to question the competency of local law enforcement when it comes to “cybercrime” but c’mon. This was an overheated Facebook exchange, not someone hacking into bank accounts.

The cops handle that stuff all the time.

And what’s a private detective going to do? I worked as a private detective for a decade, and I can tell you the cops are better equipped to handle someone making threats.

I don’t want to believe that Baird is making up threats for the sake shutting down debate and smearing her political opponents, because that’s something almost as stupid as threatening people who write things you don’t like on social media, but claiming initially you’re going to contact the cops over threats and then walking it back sure makes it all seem like a lot of hot air.

If someone did threaten Baird or anyone else I hope they’re soon identified and held accountable under the law – and I hope Baird speaks up to the cops to facilitate that process – but I’m not going to hold my breath.

In related news, Becker says he’d like to change a rule which prohibits carrying a firearm on the capitol grounds.