• Stewart Rhodes Should Get No Leniency for Leading Anti-Government Paramilitary Group

    On Thursday, Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, is due to be sentenced for seditious conspiracy and other crimes related to his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Mary B. McCord and Jacob Glick write that Rhodes has a long history of organizing and calling for various acts of insurrection, “But you wouldn’t know about any of this armed opposition to federal authorities by reading Rhodes’s sentencing memorandum.”

  • Birth Year Predicts Exposure to Gun Violence

    In long-term study, risk of getting shot or witnessing a shooting varied by respondents’ race, sex, and when they came of age. The study found that more than half of Black and Hispanic respondents witnessed a shooting by age 14 on average.

  • Students’ Troubling Reaction to School Violence Compounds the Problem

    Among U.S. high school students, the decision to carry a weapon to school is tied to experiencing violence at school, reports a new study. But weapons increase the potential for injury and death when there is interpersonal conflict, so understanding the relationship between exposure to violence and weapon carrying is essential for developing effective public health interventions.

  • Should Nine Oath Keepers Receive Terror-Enhanced Sentences?

    More than 1,000 people have now been charged with federal crimes stemming from the Capitol insurrection. Of them, about 665 have been convicted, and roughly 485 sentenced. Among the convicted are nine members of the extremist group Oath Keepers, six of whom were found guilty of seditious conspiracy. The government wants the judge to impose terror-enhanced sentences on the nine, but Roger Parloff writes that the government’s request seems excessive -  with one exception: Oath Keepers’ leader Elmer Stewart Rhodes. “A terrorism enhancement for him seems appropriate and, indeed, unavoidable.”

  • DC Police Officer Indicted for Leaking Information to Proud Boys Leader

    A DC police lieutenant was indicted on for leaking to Enrique Tarrio, the leader of The Proud Boys, information about a police investigation of Tarrio, and then lying about his communication with Tarrio.

  • Backgrounder: Police and Security Unions

    The history of unionizing police officers and security guards in the United States is complex. It spans over a century, and has been shaped by different factors, including changes in the political and economic landscape, shifts in public opinion toward organized labor, and the evolving roles and responsibilities of law enforcement professionals.

  • U.S. in a Massive Crackdown on Darknet Fentanyl Trafficking

    In a massive global crackdown on fentanyl trafficking on the darknet, U.S. law enforcement agencies and their international partners announced Tuesday the arrests of nearly 300 suspects and seizure of a large cache of drugs, cash, virtual currency and weapons.

  • Stopping Illegal Gun Trafficking Through South Florida

    American-made guns trafficked through Florida ports are destabilizing the Caribbean and Central America and fueling domestic crime. It’s time for the United States to get serious about stopping the flow.

  • Texas House Requires Panic Buttons in Every Classroom and Armed Guards in Every School

    Lawmakers have said school safety is a priority this session, but it is still unclear whether they’ll listen to Uvalde families who want to raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic guns from 18 to 21.

  • FBI: Active Shooter Incidents Fell in 2022 but Remained Relatively High

    The FBI is reporting a slight decline in the number of “active shooter” incidents last year but says the tally still surpassed the levels seen in most of the last five years. The FBI defines an active shooter as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area” such as a school or night club.

  • SPFPA Disney Local under DOL Investigation

    Three officers of a Walt Disney Land local police security union allegedly received payoffs to affiliate with a national union, according to sources, and the U.S. Department of Labor is now investigating.

  • U.S. Cities Less Violent Than Two Years Ago, Data Shows

    The truth about American cities: Despite popular belief, they are much less violent than they were just a couple of years ago. Consider New York: The city witnessed a staggering 50% increase in homicides in 2020 and 2021. But last year, they fell by 11% to 433, and so far this year, they’ve dropped another 7% to 113, according to city police data.

  • Officers of China’s National Police Charged in Transnational Repression Schemes Targeting U.S. Residents

    Forty defendants accused of Creating fake social media accounts to harass PRC dissidents, and Working with employees of a U.S. telecommunications company to remove dissidents from company’s platform.

  • Two Arrested for Operating Illegal Overseas Police Station of the Chinese Government

    Defendants Aare New York City residents who allegedly operated the police station in lower Manhattan and destroyed evidence when confronted by the FBI. The defendants and their co-conspirators helped the Chinese intelligence service locate Chinese dissidents living in the United States.

  • Why Do Mass Shooters Kill? It’s About More Than Having a Grievance

    The year 2023 is still young, and already there have been at least 146 mass shooting events in the U.S. on record, including the killing of five people in a Louisville, Kentucky, bank that the shooter livestreamed. There were 647 mass shootings in 2022 and 693 in 2021, resulting in 859 and 920 deaths, respectively. Since 2015, over 19,000 people have been shot and wounded or killed in mass shootings. In the wake of most shootings, the news media and the public reflexively ask: What was the killer’s motive?