• Importing Even More Crime

    The number of encounters with illegal immigrants recorded by the Border Patrol in FY2020 was 458,088. In FY22021, that number increased to about two million. The number of encounters with illegal immigrants who already had criminal records in FY2020 was 2,438. In FY2021, it rose to 10,763.

  • How to Prevent, Prepare for, and Respond to Mass Attacks

    What can people do right now to protect their communities from mass shootings? Researchers at RAND have spent two years working to answer that question. They looked at 640 mass attack plots that endangered, or would have endangered, four or more people in a public place between 1995 and 2020. More than half were thwarted before anyone got hurt—and in two-thirds of those cases, it was because of a tip from the public.

  • The Oath Keepers Data Leak: Unmasking Extremism in Public Life

    A data leak revealed the information of thousands of people whose names were in an Oath Keepers database as having paid for a membership at some point. The Oath Keepers are an anti-government extremist group associated with the militia movement.

  • Two Constables, Four Police Chiefs and More Than 3,000 other Texans Were Members of the Oath Keepers: Report

    A recent analysis of Oath Keepers’ membership rolls leaked last year found that Texas had more members of the far-right extremist group than any other state — and the most who worked as elected officials, law enforcement officers or members of the military.

  • Why Outlawing Ghost Guns Didn’t Stop America’s Largest Maker of Ghost Gun Parts

    Unregistered, unserialized weapons produced with Polymer80 parts have turned up at crime scenes across the country, but state-level efforts to close ghost gun loopholes continue to fall short.

  • Five Facts About Mass Shootings in K-12 Schools

    Preventing mass shootings in the United States, particularly those occurring in school settings, is an important priority for families, government leaders and officials, public safety agencies, mental health professionals, educators, and local communities. What does the evidence say about how to detect, prevent, and respond to these tragic events?

  • Encouraging Individual Willingness to Report School Safety Concerns

    How can states, districts, and schools best encourage people, especially students, to report threats of school violence so that action can be taken?

  • The Accelerating Threat of the Political Assassination

    The pattern of terrorism in recent years has arguably been trending in the direction of political assassination, especially in the United States. Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware write that assassins have long believed that their vicious acts would change the course of history. “The emerging trend is due in no small part to the reemergence of so-called “accelerationism” as a distinct violent extremist strategy. For extremists seeking to sow chaos and speed up some cataclysmic societal collapse, high-profile politicians provide an attractive target.”

  • Antisemitic Incidents in United States Reached All-Time High in 2021

    Antisemitic incidents reached an all-time high in the United States in 2021, with a total of 2,717 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism. This represents the highest number of incidents on record since 1979 – an average of more than seven incidents per day and a 34 percent increase year over year. Incidents reported in all 50 states. Attacks against synagogues and JCCs increased 61 percent.

  • U.S. Schools Increase Security, and Some Arm Teachers

    As classes are about to resume, many school districts have sought to boost security. Some are arming teachers to provide a line of defense against school shooters. It remains to be seen whether teachers toting firearms will save lives or do more harm than good.

  • Five Years After “Unite the Right”: Reflections on Charlottesville for Today’s Threat Landscape

    Five years ago, racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists from across the United States traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia for the “Unite the Right” rally. Nicholas Rasmussen and Sarah Kenny write that “Unite the Right” is best appreciated as a watershed moment in U.S. politics. “With the clear vision of hindsight, the incidents in Charlottesville five years ago sounded a wakeup call about where the United States may be headed.” The very real threat “of political violence and radicalization that flow from the highly toxic political climate we currently live in, make for a turbulent domestic threat landscape in both city parks and virtual chatrooms.”

  • Mar-a-Lago Search Sparks Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories Online

    Antisemitic conspiracy theories circulated widely on social media after the search at Mar-a-Lago. Extremist groups and influencers have used the faith of the judge who signed the search warrant, Bruce Reinhart, as ammunition to promote unfounded claims that Jewish individuals are controlling the FBI and other government entities in order to take down Donald Trump and defend the “deep state.”

  • Experts Shed Light on Preventing Violence

    As the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at CU Boulder turns 30, its founder and current director share thoughts on the center’s legacy.

  • Texan Who Prosecutors Say “Lit the Match” of Jan. 6 Riot Sentenced to More Than 7 Years in Prison

    Guy Reffitt, a 49-year-old Wylie resident, never entered the Capitol but helped ignite the crowd “into an unstoppable force,” a prosecutor at his trial said. His sentence is the longest given out so far from the Jan. 6 riot.

  • An Elusive Shadow: State-by-State Gun Ownership

    Policy-makers are faced with an exceptional challenge: how to reduce harm caused by firearms while maintaining citizens’ right to bear arms and protect themselves. Meaningful legislation requires an understanding of how access to firearms is associated with different outcomes of harm, but this knowledge also calls for accurate, highly-resolved data on firearm possession, data that is presently unavailable due to a lack of a comprehensive national firearm ownership registry.