As many of us already know, Steve Scalise was finally released from the hospital yesterday after the vicious shooting attack against Republicans in mid-June, but this wasn’t the only good news we got yesterday regarding the shooting. By Associated Press:

The House has voted in favor of allowing lawmakers to use taxpayer funds to beef up security at their homes.

The unanimous vote came on a nonbinding move by Utah GOP Rep. Mia Love to allow lawmakers to use their office budgets for security systems at their homes so long as they are not structural improvements that add value.

The voice vote comes after Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was gravely wounded last month at a practice for the GOP baseball team. House leaders recently boosted security funding for lawmakers’ district offices and broadened the range of expenses that could be covered. But that step did not apply to lawmakers’ homes.

Love cited threats she has received, which included having her address posted on Facebook.

In addition to what Rep. Scalise has endured during the last month, the threats Rep. Love and other members of Congress have received further illustrate the reason we consider this good news. Scalise and his colleagues who were present during the shooting are incredibly lucky that he was accompanied by a larger security detail, because without those individuals, the damage could have been catastrophic.

While we feel that it’s a shame that taxpayer money should have to contribute to the safety of our lawmakers and their families, we don’t want our representatives to have to risk their lives in order to do their jobs, either. It is unfortunate that we live in a day where such inflamed political ideologies result in life-threatening injury. We only hope that the members of Congress wouldn’t abuse such a bestowal for own personal wants.

Often times people forget, including the politicians themselves, that our Congressmen and -women technically serve in positions of public service. It is their job to serve their constituents by representing us in the law-writing process, and it’s sad that doing so is now such a dangerous responsibility.

We certainly don’t want to witness anything like what happened on that baseball field in June, and hopefully Congress will take the strides necessary to ensure our representatives’ safety. But we also hope that somehow the animosity will simmer, otherwise our country will be left ill-fated.