America’s Rifle: What is it about the AR-15?
As the United States finds itself looking down the barrel of yet another senseless act of terror, the usual bogeyman has been put on trial: the semiautomatic AR-15. Known as “America’s Rifle,” the AR-15 is arguably the most common rifle in circulation, with an estimated 20 million in the... Read more
What ‘On Killing’ Can Teach Us About Mass Shootings
Open Road Media sponsored this article on July 13, 2016. Dave Grossman’s 1996 book On Killing is a landmark and studied account of how — and why — human beings have inhibitions toward killing others, and how the U.S. military turned its soldiers into far more lethal killers with intense conditioning following World War II.... Read more
What’s Driving Mass Shootings?
This story originally appeared on May 26, 2014. Roger Griffin of Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom is relatively little known in America, though he’s arguably one of the world’s most influential experts of 20th-century fascism. In recent years, he’s turned his attention to the study of modern... Read more
After Every Mass Shooting, Americans Turn to Bogotá’s ‘Bulletproof Tailor’
This article originally appeared at Motherboard. Miguel Caballero had me choose the bullet he was going to shoot me with. Caballero is a tailor based out of Bogotá, Colombia. Some call him the “Armored Armani,“ although he doesn’t like the nickname. He makes stylish bulletproof clothing, for when you... Read more
San Bernardino Killers Were Rare ‘Hybrid’ Terrorists
The terrorist attack that killed 14 people at a San Bernardino holiday party had vexed federal investigators. In the days following the killings, the FBI wasn’t sure whether it was a terror assault or a workplace killing. It now looks like a combination of both. Married couple Syed Farook,... Read more

Robert Beckhusen

Managing Editor