A sharp-eyed Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel poking through the fence, likely foiling a second assassination attempt on Donald Trump on Sunday as he played a round of golf at his course near West Palm Beach.

Ryan Routh, Trump’s would-be assassin, fled before firing a shot and was quickly found and placed under arrest.

Sunday’s incident comes nine weeks after Trump survived an attempt on his life during a July 13 political rally in Butler, Pa. Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on Trump while he addressed the crowd. One bullet pierced Trump’s upper right ear. Crooks, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper, also killed one audience member and wounded two others.

In the wake of the second attempt on Trump’s life, experts are calling on increased security for the Republican presidential nominee amid a climate of increasing political violence.

On Monday, President Joe Biden told reporters the Secret Service needs more help. “Thank God the (former) president’s okay,” Biden said. “One thing I want to make clear, the (Secret) Service needs more help. And I think Congress should reply to their needs if they in fact need more service people.”

In Palm Beach County on Monday, patrol cars blocked the entrances to the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. FBI officials gathered near the stretch of shrubs where Routh was hiding out on Sunday.

The scene remained relatively quiet outside Mar-a-Lago, where Trump supporters gathered nine weeks ago after the first assassination attempt on Trump. The area, though free of fanfare from Trump supporters, had a heightened police presence, with patrol cars guarding the home and checkpoints set up along the bridge.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel contacted several experts in law enforcement to ask how they might keep Trump safe.

“I would tell him he can’t play golf,” said Dennis Kenney, a criminal justice professor at John Jay College in New York. “It’s very difficult to prevent someone from doing (this) if they are talented. The first guy wasn’t a good shot. The second guy never got a shot off. If either one had been skilled snipers they would have been difficult to stop.”

As president, Bill Clinton liked to jog through the streets of Washington, D.C., Kenney noted.

“They finally had to stop him from doing it because it screwed traffic up so much,” he said. “It was a bit of a nightmare.”

But getting a fist-pumping personality like Trump to stop playing golf might not be so easy, Kenney acknowledged.

Outdoor areas are indeed difficult to secure, said Grace Telesco, a criminal justice professor at Nova Southeastern University and a retired lieutenant with the New York Police Department.

The last four assassination attempts against U.S. presidents all happened outside, Telesco noted.

John K. Kennedy was shot and killed at a parade in Dallas. Ronald Reagan was shot outside a hotel in D.C. hotel. And Trump was shot, struck in the ear by a bullet, at an outdoor rally. Then came Sunday’s attempt at his own golf course.

“It’s very difficult to try to control that. It’s difficult to make sure that the folks who are in the front only have certain access,” Telesco said. “They’ve had criminal background checks done, but it’s not going to be foolproof. Outside is difficult.”

The Secret Service team will advise the person they are protecting what is needed to ensure safety, which may include avoiding certain locations.

“You can advise them it’s not something that’s safe for them, but the (people under protection) still have a veto,” Telesco said. “They have the right to say, ‘Well, this is what I want to do and I’m not going to stop doing that.’ If you watch the movies, the Secret Service seems to be in charge and the dignitary listens to whatever the Service Service says. Well, that’s not always the case.”

Telesco described Trump as being the type to say, “I’m not going to give in. I’m not going to back down, not going to be afraid. Whatever the potential harm is, I’m not going to allow that to stop me from doing what I want to do.”

And that makes him challenging to protect, she said.

Political rhetoric on both sides doesn’t help.

“Should a presidential candidate be able to feel safe? One-thousand percent,” Telesco said. “And in this country today where we’re a free democracy, we should be allowed to be controversial. We should be allowed to have a different opinion (from) our neighbor and not have to fear violence.”

But in reality, the nation’s heated political discourse has led to everything from presidential assassination attempts to the Jan. 6 riot, Telesco said.

“Although we like to believe we can keep presidents and presidential candidates safe, the reality is we cannot,” said Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University and an expert on presidential history.

Jarvis pointed to John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert Kennedy.

“If we could protect people, JFK would not have been assassinated and RFK would not have been assassinated,” Jarvis said. “Obviously it’s gotten better since (Abraham) Lincoln went to the theater.”

The level of protection provided becomes somewhat of a negotiation between the Secret Service and the person they need to protect, Jarvis said.

“They wanted Kennedy to use a bulletproof bubble in Dallas, but he didn’t want to use the bubble because people wouldn’t be able to see him,” Jarvis said. “If you are president, you are by nature likely to be gregarious. Most presidents want to get out and see the public. There is no way to fully protect these people. It is a myth that we can 100% protect a president or someone in political life. They already live in a bubble. They can’t just go take a walk without a Secret Service detail.”

It would be so much easier if the president never left the White House, Jarvis said.

“That’s the only place you can really keep them safe,” he said. “And even then, you can’t keep them 100% safe. … It comes with the territory.”

One of the unusual aspects of protecting Trump is that he’s both a former president and a current nominee, said Jason Russell, a former Secret Service agent who is now a security consultant.

“As such, I suspect former President Trump’s threat level is close to, or may exceed, the threat levels associated with sitting presidents,” said Russell, founder and president of the Michigan-based Secure Environment Consultants, which works with businesses and organizations.

Political rallies and other “on-the-record” outdoor events are challenging because they create security vulnerabilities “such as those caused by line of sight and access-control issues that are often largely mitigated by the design features of buildings utilized for indoor events,” Russell said. But “off-the-record” outdoor activities, including Trump’s golf outings, are also challenging because of the expansive environments where they take place, he added.

”In the recent past, the challenges have been somewhat mitigated when protectees have conducted them in more controlled environments,” he said.

As examples, he cited former President Barack Obama golfing at Joint Base Andrews, former President George W. Bush bike riding at the Secret Service training center, and former President Reagan horseback riding at his Santa Barbara ranch.

“I expect the Secret Service will continue to reevaluate the resources they allocate to protect former President Trump to attempt to ensure his safety,” Russell said.

The average person might want to lay low after getting shot at, former Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti told the Sun Sentinel.

But Trump is not your average person.

The way Lamberti sees it, Trump should be getting the same level of protection as Biden.

“I don’t think he’ll stop golfing,” Lamberti said. “But he’s a target. And it’s probably not going to subside after the election, even if he were to lose. You have to look at the threat assessment. Jimmy Carter does not have the same threat level as Donald Trump. You can’t ignore that threat assessment.”

A.J. DeAndrea, a retired deputy chief from Colorado, was one of the first SWAT team members on the scene at the Columbine shooting in 1999.

How would he protect Trump?

“If it was me, he should be getting the same security detail that Biden is getting,” DeAndre told the Sun Sentinel. “This is such a critical election. Threats have been made, twice now. The country and administration needs to answer to this.”

Trump’s advisers might very well be urging him to put away his golf clubs for now, DeAndrea said.

“But this is a free America,” he added. “And our freedoms are essential to us.”

Jeff Marano, a former Hollywood police lieutenant who served on the agency’s SWAT team, says he doubts Trump will take up indoor golf to keep himself safe — even if that’s what he’s being told to do.

“You gotta make him a hard target,” Marano said. “Clinton golfed. Obama golfed. To say, ‘Don’t play golf anymore,’ I don’t think that’s realistic. Here’s someone who’s already been shot. He went out and played golf the next day. He got up (after being shot in Pennsylvania) with the fist pump. He’s a rare breed.”

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(Staff writer Abigail Hasebroock contributed to this report.)

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