ST. PAUL  — Less than two months after a Minnesota prosecutor was shot by a defendant in a Grand Marais courthouse, a legislative committee advanced two bills designed to beef up security for county attorneys, including one that would let prosecutors carry guns.

The star witness at Thursday’s House public safety committee hearing was Tim Scannell, the Cook County attorney who was shot three times Dec. 15 by the man he had just successfully prosecuted in a criminal sexual conduct case. Scannell showed no outward sign of his injuries as he took his seat to address the committee.

“When you attack a prosecutor, you are not just attacking an ordinary citizen,” Scannell testified. “You are making a political statement that the charges against you are, that the crime the state believes you have committed, should somehow be nullified. I think that’s what occurred in my situation.”

Scannell testified only on behalf of a bill that would enhance criminal penalties for assaulting or killing a prosecutor, allowing a defendant to be charged with first-degree murder.

Of the gun bill, Scannell said he was “not a gun person” and was unlikely to carry one if it becomes law. But he said he supports the legislation, which would exempt county attorneys from a statute that prohibits local government employees from carrying firearms.