On Saturday June 18 Michael Steven Sandford was arrested for the attempted assassination of the presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. 

It is alleged that Sandford, whom is reported to have Asperger’s’ syndrome, attempted to grab a firearm attached to a security guards waist under the rouse of requesting Trump’s autograph at a Las Vegas rally. Sandford was not able to fire a single shot at the potential President and was tackled and frogmarched away from the scene. He has since been placed under arrest. A formal complaint has been filed and a preliminary hearing is set for July 6.

Sandford has said that he had planned the attempt for almost a year and his sole purpose was to kill presidential hopeful. The steps taken in preparation included the accused visiting a shooting range to learn how to handle a gun and making arrangements to attend an additional rally in Phoenix as a backup if his initial attempt failed. He stated that he did had not expected to survive his grisly plan.

Security for Trump is provided by both the Secret Service and his own private detail. Security alerts have been high during rallies in support of the presumptive nominee, which have seen the presence of many protests and heated exchanges between individual protestors and those in support of the reality star and businessman.   

The assassination attempt, while making some headlines, has not been a very big story.  A keen defender of the 2nd amendment, Trump has kept relatively quiet on the issue of the involvement of a firearm, as well as the fact that while his platform has placed a large focus on illegal immigrants, a white British man who overstayed his visa does not correspond well with the ‘build a wall’ message. Many Trump supporters have also taken issue with the lack of media coverage.  However, it could be that nobody wants to give the potential assassin more attention and encourage similar copycat behaviour or consider the event have been a serious threat on Trump’s life.