Peace and Security
The Military-Industrial Threat to the Nation’s Well-Being
These days, the news cycle rotates between the deficit, bouts of extreme weather, horrific crimes, taxation, immigration, gun control (or the lack thereof), and a few other regularly reported crises. Lost in this shuffle is any heated discussion of the biggest threat...
They’re Coming to Take Your Guns! Not.
Colorado has emerged as ground zero for the national debate about gun safety. Democratic lawmakers here in my state are considering a set of gun safety bills, some of which mirror gun the legislation under consideration in Congress. These include a measure to require...
Anti-Government ‘Patriot’ Groups Ramp Up Again
It's déjà vu all over again. Twenty years ago, the passage of the Brady gun control bill helped ignite the first wave of the "Patriot" movement, a combustible mix of gun-toting militias and baseless conspiracy theories about government perfidy that culminated in the...
Getting Small Arms Out of the Wrong Hands
Did you know that international laws dictate the rules of the game when it comes to selling bananas and iPods, but not grenade launchers and AK-47s? It's crazy but true. Fortunately, a solution is at hand. Negotiators at the United Nations will soon wrap up a global...
Close the Gun Show Loophole
Dozens of Americans will be murdered, hundreds of others will be shot, and nearly 1,000 will be robbed or assaulted with a gun — today. The United States has some of the weakest gun laws in the world. To make us, our families, and our communities safer, we need to...
NRA Lesson Plan
We’ve Got to Get Out of That Place
The U.S. war in Afghanistan is beginning to wind down. As President Barack Obama promised in his State of the Union address, half of the U.S. troops there will return home by this time next year. But many details remain hazy. For instance, what will happen with the...
Declaring Victory in Afghanistan
Why Use a Bludgeon When a Calculator Will Do?
Sequestration is both ugly and hard to explain. As a budget wonk, I like to use this metaphor: It's as if the American people are being squeezed into the back of a dilapidated Chevy pickup. Careening down a dirt road, we're headed for a brick wall. Try as we might to...
New World Disorder
They were droning on about drones the other day in Washington. The Senate Intelligence (ha-ha) Committee was grilling CIA chief-designate John Brennan on the use of unmanned aircraft during his tenure as President Barack Obama's adviser on terrorism. Drones are being...
