There is absolutely no place in our country for people or groups to physically threaten any citizen, especially our elected officials.

It is absolutely everyone’s right to disagree with any elected official whose views they don’t like. They can do this by voicing their disagreement on social media, with a letter to the editor in a local newspaper, peacefully demonstrating outside the elected official’s office or phoning the official or his or her staff and expressing their dislike.

We have no problem with that, as it is all free speech protected under the First Amendment. At this newspaper, we commonly publish letters to the editor in which writers express their true feelings about an elected official, whether it be on the local, state or federal level. We’re glad to run these letters, as it not only generates discussion amongst other readers, but it’s also part of what the opinion page is for, which is to allow for an array of views from people from different persuasions.

While we support all of this, we absolutely draw the line when it comes to people getting on social media and threatening to take the lives of our elected officials.

Unfortunately, we have watched as several rogue, militia-style groups and individuals have been threatening governors and using some pretty barbaric terms on social media.

These threats are serious ones and aren’t to be taken lightly. It appears from these people’s posts on social media that they are very angry with several governors, including Gov. Andy Beshear and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, for not moving faster to open up businesses and concerns about layoffs in these states.

In April, Louisville lawyer James Gregory Troutman, 53, was charged with terroristic threatening after he made multiple statements on Facebook about Beshear. Kentucky State Police records showed Troutman was making threatening comments about Beshear after allegedly referencing an assassinated governor in a Facebook post before saying he hoped people would shoot at Beshear.

“Maybe some should ask Beshear in a press conference about his thoughts on William Goebel,” Troutman said in the post, according to police. “For those of you who don’t know the history … it’s a good read.”

If true, this is particularly alarming, considering Goebel is the only U.S. governor to die by assassination (he was shot the day before being sworn in and died just days later).

In another post, a man claimed Beshear “gives us the authority to eliminate him by any means necessary via the Second Amendment.”

In another post Troutman made, according to KSP, he talked about upcoming protests in Frankfort and Lansing, Mich., and he allegedly asked, “Will the gov be there shooting plates???” The post referenced the governor’s decision to have license plate photos taken of those who attended a church despite social distancing guidelines. According to KSP reports, Troutman said, “With any luck the gov will be the one at whom shooting will be directed.”

While these are all just allegations at this point, Troutman did admit to KSP about making the statements about Goebel.

In another threat against Beshear, a Kentucky man, Jeremiah Wooley, 25, made his threats on a social media platform under a false name, court records show. The nature of his threats was not stated.

When state police arrested Wooley, of Kevil, he had two handguns in his possession and a search warrant revealed many more guns and weapons at his home. There were 12 additional firearms, including a .50-caliber rifle, assault-style firearms, shotguns and handguns at his residence, records show. Several of the loaded guns were in arm’s reach of children, ages 10, 7 and 5 years old, according to an arrest citation.

This is pretty scary stuff, if true, to be calling for a sitting governor to be assassinated.

While the physical threats against Beshear are bad and should be taken very seriously by those protecting him and his family daily, Michigan’s Whitmer has had some death threats against her that are right out of the dark ages.

According to media reports, in a Facebook group called “People of Michigan. vs. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer” someone wrote that, “We need a good old fashioned lynch mob to storm the Capitol, drag her tyrannical ass out onto the street and string her up as our forefathers would have.”

Another poster had the same idea: “Drag that tyrant governor out to the front lawn. Fit her for a noose.”

“Either President Trump sends in the troops or there is going to be a midnight lynching in Lansing soon,” another poster chimed in to this group, which has more than 9,000 members.

Others suggested she be shot, beaten or beheaded. Someone suggested the guillotine be used on Whitmer.

Another poster had another idea: “Can we please just take up a collection for an assassin to put that woman from Michigan down?” he asked.

It’s pretty obvious from these very serious comments that these people aren’t kidding and do indeed wish bodily harm on Whitmer.

People who make threats such as these are really scary people. They can hide all they want behind free speech claims, but we’re not buying that argument. This speech is intended for someone to act out and try to assassinate a sitting governor.

To suggest assassinating a governor as they’ve done is just plain wrong, reckless and potentially illegal.

We believe anyone who can be tracked down for making threats against these governors or any other elected official needs to be thoroughly interrogated by police. If evidence is found that they did indeed make these threats, then they need to be charged and tried for making threats against an elected official.

Because, once again, talks of assassinating an elected official, regardless of how one feels about their politics and policies, absolutely has no place in our society.