GOP Rep. Nancy Mace now carries a firearm at all times and visits a gun range once a week after vandals defaced her South Carolina family home
A freshman Congresswoman from South Carolina is now carrying a gun with her wherever she goes and is visiting a gun range at least once a week, after at least one vandal defaced her home, front steps, sidewalk and street with black spray paint.
The messages the vandal allegedly left at Nancy Mace's Charleston home while she was away for Memorial Day weekend included 'F*** you Nancy,' 'all politicians are bastards,' 'no gods, no masters,' and 'pass the pro act' next to Antifa symbols.
'When they show up to your house and physically just, you know, try to destroy it with graffiti, it's personal and its invasive and it's violating and it doesn't feel good,' Mace, a Republican, told Fox News
Shortly after the incident, the Republican congresswoman posted on her personal Twitter account that she was 'buying another firearm. This one to carry.'
'Feeling safer today than yesterday,' she wrote on June 5.
Nancy Mace, a Congresswoman from South Carolina, said she has been visiting the gun range at least once a week since her home in Charleston was vandalized over Memorial Day weekend
She said she feels empowered by being able to defend herself, and carries a concealed weapon with her everywhere she can
Following the alleged vandalism, Mace, a graduate of The Citadel, posted on her personal Twitter page that she was buying a new firearm 'this one to carry'
She told Fox that the vandalism over Memorial Day weekend was not the first time she felt threatened.
In October 2020, one month before narrowly beating Democrat incumbent Joe Cunningham, she reported that her car had been keyed, and after receiving death threats in December, she got a concealed weapons permit.
'It doesn't feel good that I feel like I have to look behind my shoulder every day,' she said. 'It doesn't feel safe.'
'I carry a gun wherever I go today,' she said. 'Wherever I'm allowed to carry.'
Mace, the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, said she grew up with guns in her home and is now teaching her two middle school-aged children to shoot.
'When this happened, it really changed everything for me,' she told FOX News.
'I'm not going to live in fear, and I'm not going to be intimidated.
'I think it's one of the most empowering things that you can do is be able to defend yourself.'
Some of the alleged graffiti at Mace's house include the phrase 'All politicians are bastards' surrounded by three Antifa symbols
Mace's steps were also allegedly defaced with spray paint reading 'no gods, no masters'
Spray paint on the side of her home allegedly told her to 'pass the pro act'
Police responded to Mace's home at around 8.10am on May 31, according to police reports, and Mace said she awoke to a call from police officers asking her if she was home or if she knew her house had been vandalized.
A nearby park was also spray painted with one bridge painted 'MAGA,' and a roadway was painted with 'Black Lives Matter.'
Additionally, police report, an anarchist symbol was spray painted in black on one of the welcoming columns to Smythe Park, near Mace's home.
'It's such a violation of one's privacy,' she said at the time. 'It doesn't matter what your political beliefs are or your political affiliation, everyone should feel safe in their own home. And to have someone trespass onto your property and deface it in such a vile manner - even my children ha to see that.'
She said she had asked Charleston city officials to remove the messages immediately so that other children would not have to see the crude language, and it was power washed off later that day.
Charleston crews power washed and remove the graffiti later that day
Police are still searching for the alleged vandal, seen here in video surveillance footage
Following the alleged vandalism, FOX reports, there was some speculation online that she vandalized her own home.
'There was no empathy, there was only let's re-victimize her,' Mace recounted to the news station. 'I challenge anybody, if I did this, please send the evidence to the FBI and please charge me with a crime.
'I dare you to because the evidence just doesn't exist out there
'And it's crazy to me that this is where we are in this country - you're seeing the downfall of civility on social media.'
So, she decided to turn the vandalism into a fundraising opportunity, emailing supporters on June 3 'Did you see what Antifa did to my house?'
'Americans should be able to disagree without suffering property damage by the hands of the woke mob,' the email read. 'If you agree, will you chip in today to help me defend against this nonsense violence?'
It is unclear how much money she raised from that email, according to Fox, but Mace said she plans to send out another round of emails about the vandalism in the coming days, as the Charleston Police Department investigation continues.
Mace, a Republican, is in her first term in Congress after narrowly defeating incumbent Joe Cunningham in November
Meanwhile, threats against federal lawmakers have been on the rise.
In May, the Capitol Police Department reported there had been a 107 percent increase in threats against federal lawmakers in the first few months of this year when compared to the same time in 2020.
In one case, Sen. Rand Paul received a package at his Kentucky home filled with white powder, which Capitol Police later confirmed was not dangerous.
But on the envelope, there was a picture of a the senator covered in bruises and bandages with a threat 'I'll finish what your neighbor started you motherf*****,' a reference to Rene Boucher who pleaded guilty in 2018 to assaulting Paul the year before while he was doing yardwork.
The senator suffered multiple rib fractures and underwent multiple treatments for pneumonia that resulted from the attack, the Washington Examiner reports.
Paul also had surgery from a hernia related to the assault.
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