Mass Shootings
Canada Bans 'Assault Weapons' by Executive Order
Such bans have already proven to be essentially valueless for crime-fighting.
Gorsuch Throws Shade at Trump Administration for Rewriting Federal Gun Laws Without Congressional Approval
“Why should courts, charged with the independent and neutral interpretation of the laws Congress has enacted, defer to such bureaucratic pirouetting?”
Should Banks Be in the Gun Control Business?
There is no easy way to determine whether someone is spending a lot on guns because they like guns or because they plan to commit an act of terror.
The FBI Wants Access to a Mass Shooter's iPhone. Will They Demand a Back Door?
A deadly shooting on a Naval base in Florida may lead to a new battle against encryption.
A 'Good Guy With a Gun' Prevented a Texas Church Shooting From Becoming a Massacre
Two victims were killed at a church shooting in White Settlement, Texas. It would have been much worse had some parishioners not been armed.
Tide Pods, Nazis, and Bees: The Top 10 Moral Panics of the 2010s
We found a lot of things to worry about over the past 10 years.
California School Shooting Leads to Renewed Demands for Assault Weapons Ban
Plus: Uber and Los Angeles transit regulators go to war over user data, young adult novelists cancel critic, and ex-ambassador testifies in impeachment hearings.
SCOTUS Declines To Intervene in Lawsuit Blaming Gun Maker for Sandy Hook Massacre
The plaintiffs now have to prove that Remington's advertising was not only "unfair or deceptive" but "a proximate cause" of the attack.
The Latest Synagogue Shooting Is Not an Excuse To Regulate Livestreams
Violent bigots were targeting Jews long before they could broadcast the carnage.
Dick's Sporting Goods Destroys $5 Million Worth of Its Own 'Assault Weapons'
A decision based on a poor grasp of gun technology.
Ohio Police Fired Blanks During School Shooter Drill, Needlessly Terrifying Students
Increasingly theatrical and frightening active shooter drills are surprisingly common, even though school shootings are not.
Ted Cruz's Gun Control Bill Would Encourage Enforcement of Restrictions That Make No Sense
The Texas senator wants to beef up a background check system that unjustly and irrationally deprives people of their rights.
Sandy Hook Promise Ad Hypes the Danger of School Shootings, Fostering Irrational Fears and Bad Policies
Official responses to these extremely rare crimes are grossly disproportionate in light of the risk they actually pose.
Trump Mulls Orwellian Proposal to Stop Mass Shootings by Monitoring 'Mentally Ill People' for Signs of Imminent Violence
The program would try to develop a surveillance system based on predictive tests that don't exist.
Don't Just Do Something
Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Who knows? Do something!
A Suspiciously Selective, Logically Shaky Analysis of Mass Shooting Data Claims the Federal 'Assault Weapon' Ban 'Really Did Work'
The law's impact on weapon choice cannot plausibly account for reductions or increases in fatalities.
Does the Texas Shooting Show That 'Universal Background Checks' Are a Good Way to Prevent Mass Murder?
The policy is unenforceable and poorly tailored to the problem it is meant to address.
Beto's Impossible Gun Ban Dreams
A growing number of prominent Democrats want owners of "assault weapons" to surrender them to the government. History says most people will ignore any such law.
Should It Be Easier to Put Mass Shooters to Death? Trump's Justice Department Thinks So
Plus: Harris and Buttigieg lose top-tier status, freelance writers face trouble in California, how credit cards created a surveillance state, and more...
New York's New 'Red Flag' Law Illustrates the Due Process Problems Posed by Gun Confiscation Orders
When it comes to deciding who should keep their Second Amendment rights, the deck is stacked against gun owners.
Florida Cops Arrest a 15-Year-Old Boy for Joking About Perpetrating a Mass Shooting
"Joke or not, these types of comments are felonies under the law," says the Volusia County Sheriff's Office
Do These 21 Mass Shootings That Did Not Happen Show the Benefits of California's 'Red Flag' Law?
Only if you assume they would have happened in the absence of gun confiscation orders.
Kamala Harris Promises To 'Disarm Violent Hate' by Seizing Guns From Bigots
The Democratic presidential contender suggests that "racist threats or anti-immigrant manifestos" could justify federal gun confiscation orders.
Yes, America Faces a Threat From White Nationalists. No, More Laws Won't Fix That.
If your neighbor were unbalanced, armed to the teeth and busy posting social-media messages about how much he hates you, you'd certainly support measures to disarm him. But you'd feel more secure if he didn't hate you in the first place.
SCOTUS Should Drop This Second Amendment Case, a New York Times Columnist Argues, Because Mass Shootings
The justices would be abdicating their duty to uphold the Constitution if they let such political considerations decide legal issues.
James Alan Fox: There Is No Evidence of an 'Epidemic of Mass Shootings'
The nation's leading scholar of mass shootings explains how media coverage of horrific events such as El Paso and Dayton stoke unwarranted fear and anxiety.
Joe Biden Concedes the 'Assault Weapon' Ban He Wants To Revive Had No Impact on the Lethality of Legal Guns
The presidential contender nevertheless insists the law reduced mass shooting deaths.
Authoritarian Rulers Mobilize Private Violence To Advance Their Goals
Trump's incendiary rhetoric and selective law enforcement is encouraging anti-immigrant violence.
A Violent Movie Satirizing America's Culture War Gets Canceled by America's Culture War
After outraged responses from Fox and Trump, Universal yanks The Hunt from its schedule.
The Puzzle of Identifying Future Mass Murderers Cannot Be Solved by Psychiatry, Background Checks, or Red Flag Laws
If "the notion that we can identify mass killers before they act" is a "fiction," the conventional policy responses to mass shootings are unlikely to be effective.
Does Walmart Really Think a 30-Second Clip of Call of Duty Will Traumatize Us All?
Store orders ban of violent displays, but is still selling guns and video games.
Republicans Who Support Gun Confiscation Laws Imagine 'Due Process' That Does Not Exist on Paper or in Practice
Here is how the states with "red flag" laws fail to protect the constitutional rights of gun owners.
'Red Flag' Laws Leave Gun Owners Defenseless
The Trump-endorsed response to mass shootings gives due process short shrift.
Fighting Over Video Game Violence Shows Who Prefers Culture Wars Over Reality
Deflections, generational conflict, and misleading data abound.
To Stop Mass Shooters, Trump Says, We Should Make Involuntary Psychiatric Treatment Easier. No, We Shouldn't.
Because psychiatrists are terrible at predicting violent behavior, the wider net would catch lots of harmless people.
Trump Says Mental Illness 'Pulls the Trigger' in Mass Shootings
Plus: Monday market swings spark freakout, Hong Kong "now a revolution," and more...
How Libertarians Should Respond to Mass Shootings
Plus: the budget deal, GOP retirements, and the latest front in the trade war.
No, Donald Trump: Not Even Mass Shootings and Hate Crimes Justify the Death Penalty
Politicians never hesitate to exploit a tragedy.
Cloudflare, Not the Government, Should Decide Whether It Wants to Do Business with 8chan
Companies should forced neither to help spread offensive speech nor to suppress it.
Does 'Common Sense Gun Safety Legislation' Make Sense As a Response to the El Paso and Dayton Shootings?
The familiar proposals would do little or nothing to prevent attacks like these.
Trump Calls for Linking New Gun Control Legislation to Immigration Reform
The president offers the worst of both worlds.
With No Info Whatsoever, Fox News Host Randomly Speculates That Video Games Caused El Paso Shooting
Studies show no connection between games and real-world aggression.
El Paso Walmart Shooter Allegedly Wrote Anti-Immigrant Manifesto Calling Hispanics 'Invaders'
Plus: A second shooting in Dayton leaves 9 dead, dozens injured.
Pete Buttigieg Pushes Dubious Gun Controls in Response to a Nonexistent 'Epidemic'
The presidential contender feels no need to defend the policies he favors, because "we all know" they are "the right thing to do."