• Five Years After Parkland, School Shootings Haven’t Stopped, and Kill More People

    Since the 2018 Parkland attack, there have been over 900 shootings in K-12 school settings. Thirty-two were indiscriminate attacks apparently driven by the intent to kill as many people as possible, including mass casualty events.

  • Studying Gun Violence Is Hard. But Intervention Programs Need Research to Survive.

    Critics say there isn’t enough traditional academic evidence to justify government investment in community violence interruption. But the programs are varied and neighborhoods aren’t laboratories, complicating ordinary evaluation.

  • Are Mass Shootings Contagious?

    High-fatality shootings are becoming more frequent, raising the question of whether or not mass shootings are contagious, that is, whether or not one mass shooter copycats the actions of an earlier shooter. These questions arise especially when several mass shooting events are clustered in time. The evidence is not clear-cut either way.

  • Studying Gun Violence

    Otto Meisenheimer was a 21-year old college student when he was killed in 1977 in random shooting at a bowling alley outside of Chicago. His family has committed significant funds to establish the Center for the Prevention of Gun Violence in his name at Indiana University School of Public Health.

  • Extremist Couple Charged in Plot to Destroy Baltimore’s Power Grid

    Two extremists have been charged Monday with conspiracy to attack and destroy energy facilities around Baltimore in a plot to “completely destroy” the city. The man, the founder of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen, and his accomplice appear to be part of trend among domestic violent extremists to target the U.S. electrical grid. In recent years, DHS and the FBI have discovered several such conspiracies to take down the power system, with the most recent attacks taking place in North Carolina and Washington State.

  • Israel to Enact New Counterterrorism Measures After Attacks

    In the wake of deadly weekend terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, the Israeli government has said it would seek to speed up the process for citizens to obtain firearms.

  • U.S. Dismantles Ransomware Network Responsible for More Than $100 Million in Extortion

    An international ransomware network that extorted more than $100 million from hundreds of victims around the world has been brought down following a monthslong infiltration by the FBI. The group known as Hive targeted more than 1,500 victims, including hospitals, school districts and financial firms in more than 80 countries.

  • U.S. Secret Service Report Examines Five Years of Mass Violence Data

    The U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) the other day released a comprehensive report examining 173 incidents of targeted violence and highlighting the observable commonalities among the attackers.

  • What Is Microstamping, and Can It Help Solve Shootings?

    Laws to expand the technology’s use have passed in three states and the District of Columbia. But some are questioning its effectiveness.

  • Gun Control Measures Associated with Reduced Police Use of Force

    As police departments and activists look for strategies to reduce excessive use of force by police, new research shows limited data, lack of transparency and irregular implementation of reforms make it difficult to determine which approaches are effective.

  • ‘Stand Your Ground’ and Shall-Issue Laws Increase Gun Violence, Study Finds

    The RAND Corporation’s latest gun policy report examined 18 popular laws for their effects on violence. The sweeping synthesis of gun policy research has found supportive evidence that “stand your ground” and shall-issue concealed carry laws increase levels of violence, and that child access prevention policies reduce firearm injuries and deaths among children.

  • Effects of Gun Policies: Evidence Grows to Supports Laws Intended to Restrict Child Access to Guns

    More than 45,000 Americans die annually from deliberate and unintentional gun injuries, just over half of which are suicides. Another 50,000 to 150,000 Americans per year receive care in a hospital for a nonfatal gun injury.

  • How Does a Child Become a Shooter? Research Suggests Easy Access to Guns and Exposure to Screen Violence Increase the Risk

    In the aftermath of a shocking incident in which a first grader shot and seriously injured a teacher at a school in Newport News, Virginia, the city’s mayor asked the question: “How did this happen?” As experts in media use and its connections to violence, we have reported some disturbing findings about how children are influenced by gun violence depicted in media like television, movies and video games. What makes this more troubling is the fact that millions of children in the U.S. have easy access to firearms in their homes, increasing the risk of gun deaths, including suicides.

  • Was George Santos Groomed to be a Russian Agent?

    Among the multitude of lies and falsehoods newly elected Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) has concocted, the most intriguing item – and likely the source of Santos’s most serious potential legal trouble – are his campaign finances. What is especially noticeable, and disturbing, are the generous contributions Santos has received from Viktor Vekselberg, one of Vladimir Putin’s wealthiest and most influential courtiers. “For all we know,” writes one commentator, “some foreign power may have bought itself a congressman. This isn’t outlandish speculation.”

  • Hackathon Focuses on Making Policing More Equitable

    A hackathon, just to be clear, has nothing to do with tunneling into computer servers and trying to swipe bank accounts or social security numbers. It’s a timed race to develop something new—a mobile app or computer game, a business idea, a fresh way of thinking about public policy.