ON A COLD February day in 1975, a mustachioed lumberman walked into a Louisa County courtroom, threw back his coat, leveled his sawed-off shotgun and pulled the trigger.

His first shot missed. But as Judge Stewart A. Cunningham rose from the bench, the man pulled the trigger again.

The 12-gauge blast to the head killed the district court judge. The force of the fatal shot was so strong it blew the bench against Cunningham and destroyed a statue of Lady Justice resting atop it.

The bloody attack shattered more than the year-old statue. It shook the rural county’s sense of security, prompting calls for increased courtroom protection and the addition of lead shields in judges’ benches.

When a man was tried and convicted of the murderous shooting spree, security was unprecedented: Deputies used metal detectors and searched every courtroom observer.

In many ways, the incident heralded the advent of the modern era of courtroom security in the Fredericksburg region. Thirty years later, precautions that once seemed revolutionary are now standard.

But there is neither a state nor a federal standard that says what’s needed to make a local court secure. That decision is left to the discretion—and budget—of local sheriffs and judges.

For example: While Culpeper County beefed up security by adding X–ray machines last week, Caroline County still has unsecured courthouse entrances.

In Stafford and Spotsylvania Counties, everyone—including attorneys—walks through a metal detector and has his belongings X–rayed. But screening policies differ in other localities. In Fredericksburg, where there are no X–ray machines, metal detectors are used. Unlike in Stafford and Spotsylvania, city deputies do not have handheld wands as a backup.

Visitors who set off the sensor Thursday before a circuit court hearing were given only a cursory follow-up check by a Fredericksburg deputy and then waved through. Once court began, the entrance was left unmanned.

Although no state or local statistics could be found, attacks against judges are rare. Three federal judges have been killed since 1949, all of them at their homes by people upset over previous judicial rulings or concerned about pending decisions.

In that span, two family members have been killed: The husband and mother of U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow, who were found shot to death in Lefkow’s Chicago home Feb. 28.