Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
In a step toward gun safety, the attorney general of Virginia, Mark Herring, announced on Tuesday that his state would stop recognizing concealed-carry permits from states whose permit laws don’t meet Virginia’s standards. Virginia law bars anyone convicted of or facing charges for stalking, currently under a restraining or protective order, convicted of assault or…
Police say a 15-year-old high school football player was killed by stray bullets as he shielded three teenage girls from gunshots. (Reuters) When the shooting began Thursday night in Knoxville, Tenn., Zaevion Dobson faced a split-second choice: run away and save himself, or use his body as a shield to protect those around him. Nobody…
Within minutes of reports that a social services center in San Bernardino, California, had been the target of the nation’s 355th mass shooting of 2015, the Twitter feeds and Facebook timelines of senators and representatives flooded with expressions of condolences. Elected officials offered thoughts, prayers or both to the shooters’ victims and their families, while…
Matthew Short , public relations director with Come and Take It Texas and DontComply.com. (Jay Janner /Austin American-Statesman via AP) Days before a planned ‘mock shooting’ demonstration just outside the campus of the University of Texas in Austin, a panel on Thursday recommended policies that would allow concealed handguns in classrooms. UT President Greg Fenves will…
Chris Blattman cites a recent estimate that Americans own 42% of the civilian guns in the world. You’ll also see estimates that America accounts for about half of the world’s defense spending. I believe those numbers are a misuse of purchasing power parity comparisons, but with proper adjustments it is not implausible to believe that…
Employees and other people are evacuated by bus from the site of a mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino, California.Photo by David McNew/Getty Images As Americans have become more and more accustomed to the routine nature of mass shootings in this country, the media, including Slate, have…
One California member of Congress will no longer stand on the House floor to pay tribute to mass shooting victims. The day after the horrific attack in San Bernardino, Rep. Jackie Speier says she’ll boycott the congressional chamber or stay seated instead. “I’m not going to stand up for a moment of silence again and then watch us…
The New York Times front page on Saturday. There is a way of thinking — one that tends to comfort the comfortable and leave the afflicted in extended misery. It’s a way of dividing every vexing, complicated, long-running but slow-moving matter of public debate into one of three categories, then getting about the more ordinary business…
For the first time in many decades, The New York Times has taken the rare step of running an editorial on its front page. Calling the availability of deadly weapons “a moral outrage” and “a national disgrace,” the editorial calls for an outright ban on some weapons: Certain kinds of weapons, like the slightly…
Two young campers were sleeping in Yosemite Valley this August when a tree branch snapped and fell on their tent, killing them both. “We don’t know what caused the limb to fall,” said the park’s spokeswoman, Jodi Bailey. “It seems like just a freak accident.” Ms. Bailey was right: Being killed by a falling object…