• Illegal Immigrant Murderers in Texas, 2013–2022

    Crime committed by illegal immigrants is an important and contentious public policy issue, but it is notoriously difficult to measure and compare their criminal conviction rates with those of other groups such as legal immigrants and native‐born Americans. Most research, however, finds that all immigrants in the United States are less likely to commit crime or be incarcerated than native‐born Americans.

  • ‘Gun Control Is Dead and We Killed It’: Unmasking the ‘Lonely Incel’ Who Designed the World’s Most Popular 3D-printed Firearm

    The first 3D-printed firearm emerged in May 2013, but Despite the hype, the reality was that the gun was impractical and unreliable. It was not until spring 2020 that the threat of 3D-printed guns grew significantly with the emergence of the FGC-9. The open-source design  was accompanied by a meticulous, step-by-step instructional guide akin to an Ikea assembly booklet. The gun’s mysterious designer boasted in one anonymized interview that, by bringing out these designs and sharing them freely: “We f****d gun control for good; Gun control is dead, and we killed it.”

  • Racist Slurs and Death Threats: The Dangerous Life of a Georgia Elections Official

    The lies and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election have resonated with many Douglas County, Georgia, voters. Now many nonpartisan officials across the country are forced to face their ire. Ere is how one Georgia county official navigates the hatred inspired by election lies.

  • Modern-Day Outlaws, “Sovereign Citizens” Threaten the Rule of Law

    The FBI considers sovereign citizens a domestic terrorism threat. My research into sovereign citizens has found they have long been active in the U.S. and other countries. At the core of their beliefs is the denial of the government’s legitimacy. They commonly do not register their vehicles, acquire driver’s licenses or car insurance, or pay taxes. And they pose a significant threat to the public.

  • Beyond The ‘Incel Attacker’: Media Reporting on Cases of Misogynist Violence

    Incidents of misogynist violence are often tenuously linked to the wider incel community in media reports, most notably in the immediate aftermath of attacks carried out by lone male perpetrators. But it is important clearly to separate cases of misogynist violence from the wider incel community.  and offers recommendations to journalists who report on such violence.

  • Rising Threats to Public Officials: A Review of 10 Years of Federal Data

    A review of federal charges for the past decade highlights that the number of threats to public officials is growing. While 2013-2016 had an average of 38 federal charges per year, that number sharply increased to an average of 62 charges per year between 2017-2022. Across the time series, ideologically motivated threats, on average, accounted for almost half of the cases, and the portion steadily increased year over year. A preliminary review of cases from 2023 and 2024 shows that the number of federal prosecutions is on pace to hit new record highs. The rising threat level may produce significant consequences for the U.S. democratic system of governance.

  • The Supreme Court’s Ghost Gun Case Could Jeopardize Other Firearm Regulations

    Legal experts say the ruling could expand Second Amendment protections to the gun industry, imperiling a host of laws governing the manufacture and sale of firearms.

  • Even When a Cop Is Killed with an Illegally Purchased Weapon, the Gun Store’s Name Is Kept Secret

    A 2003 law pushed by the gun industry limits the information shared by federal agents and shields gun shops from public scrutiny, but ProPublica was able to identify the store that sold the gun used in the shooting of a Chicago police officer.

  • Terrorist Watch List Apprehensions at Northern Border Continue to Break Records

    The number of known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) apprehended at the northern border in the first six months of fiscal 2024 continue to outpace those apprehended at the southwest border.

  • Feds Should Leave Campus Unrest to Others

    The federal government should not inject itself into debates largely occurring in civil—free—society. It is not the proper federal role, and it threatens to reduce rather than promote harmony. Some of the things said during the pro-Palestine protests might well be horrible, inaccurate things to say. Those who say them might have antisemitic motives. But it is extremely dangerous to put such speech off limits.

  • NYPD Says Protesters Had Weapons, Gas Masks and 'Death to America!' Pamphlets

    Michael Kemper, a NYPD’s chief of transit, said protesters had weapons including knives and hammers as well as pamphlets with “Death to America!” written on them. “For those romanticizing the protests occurring on college campuses, ‘Death to America!’ is one sentiment that runs counter to what we believe in, what we stand for, and what many have fought for on behalf of this country,” Kemper said.

  • In A Decade, Firearm Deaths Among Young Black People in Rural America Have Quadrupled

    A new analysis of CDC data shows that gun fatality rates among Black children and teens in rural places are on par with cities, and are primarily driven by a rise in homicides.

  • Lawmakers Call for Accountability Over Pro-Hamas Campus Violence

    Pro-Hamas demonstrations on college campuses have become increasingly intense, and even violent in recent days, pushing lawmakers to call for a change. Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida) has, along with Tim Scott (R-S.C.), introduced the Stop Antisemitism on College Campuses Act, which would end federal funding for colleges and universities “that support, authorize, or facilitate events that promote antisemitism.”

  • Campus Antisemitism Surges Amid Encampments and Related Protests at Columbia and Other U.S. Colleges

    College campuses have been the site of many tense anti-Israel protests and antisemitic incidents since the start of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 terrorist attack. Anti-Zionist student groups on over a dozen U.S. college and university campuses have established “encampments” in recent days to ostensibly protest Israel’s actions in Gaza and their academic institutions’ alleged “complicity” in those actions.

  • Tennessee Is Ramping Up Penalties for Student Threats. Research Shows That’s Not the Best Way to Keep Schools Safe.

    After a former student killed six people last year at the private Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, state leaders have been looking for ways to make schools safer. Their focus so far has been to ramp up penalties against current students who make mass threats against schools. Months after the killings, legislators passed a law requiring students who make such threats to be expelled for a year. But a large body of research shows these zero-tolerance measures are not the most effective way to prevent violence in schools.