To protect the public from Las Vegas-style attacks, the government must review these too. The Justice Department this week delivered its long-promised ban on bump stocks, a device that gun owners can affix to the back of their semi-automatic rifles to increase the rate of fire. While the ban has widespread support, it has also … Continued
Read MoreThe ways we control disease may work for pathological bigotry. By Ronald W. Pies, Tufts University Over a decade ago, I wrote a piece for a psychiatric journal entitled “Is Bigotry a Mental Illness?” At the time, some psychiatrists were advocating making “pathological bigotry” or pathological bias – essentially, bias so extreme it interferes with daily … Continued
Read MoreA kids-eye view of shooter drills, Stoneman Douglas wasn’t practicing safety protocols, and a barstool through a window saved lives in Thousand Oaks. By Amanda Field Last week four high-ranking administrators at Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of the Parkland, Fla., massacre, were reassigned after a safety commission found the school hadn’t held a … Continued
Read MoreThe U.N. predicts major trouble as early as 2040. The industry should prepare now. This month, just before the second devastating hurricane in a month turned large swaths of the southeastern United States into splinters, the United Nations issued a dire report on how climate change is poised to reshape our world. That message should … Continued
Read MoreSpeculation can have serious consequences. How can journalists cover the mental health angle of these incidents in a responsible and ethical way? by Ingfei Chen Newtown, Connecticut. Las Vegas. Parkland, Florida. Annapolis, Maryland. And just two days ago, Jacksonville, Florida, where the details are still coming in. With each ghastly mass shooting in a school, … Continued
Read MoreBank tellers have had them for years. Now, librarians, school teachers, and Jerry in accounts payable may all be armed with panic buttons. Institutions spooked by the recent spate of mass shootings are investing in a variety of safety apps, panic button apps foremost among them. The apps open with a few clicks of your … Continued
Read MoreAs travelers squeeze in the last of their summer travel, the TSA has come under scrutiny for a previously undisclosed program called ‘Quiet Skies,’ which asks federal air marshals to watch and report on ordinary citizens as they move about the airport. First reported in the Boston Globe, air marshals have trailed a businesswoman who … Continued
Read MoreWhen teachers return to school in Columbiana, Ohio at the end of the month, they’ll be trained to use the latest in district-funded security technology. No, not camera systems. This 1,000-student district already has those. Ditto state-of-the-art buzzer system. Nope, they’ll learn how to use tactical grade pepper spray cannons. Four Threat Extinguisher canisters, which … Continued
Read MoreUpdate: According to a report in the Washington Post, a federal judge has blocked the online distribution of Defense Distributed’s blueprints for 3D printable guns. A lawyer for the company said the ruling violates the First Amendment. Gun control advocates, state governments, and the distributor of plans for 3D-printable guns are taking aim at each other, … Continued
Read MoreAustin has Sixth Street. Portland, Ore., has Old Town. And Vancouver has Granville. Police patrolling party districts like these in mid-sized cities are, for the most part, on the lookout for the dangerously drunk, the argument about to flare into a fistfight or an occasional robbery. But those officers are also keeping an eye out for the kind of violence making headlines across North America.
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