Inventor and founder of world’s most popular military & police handgun brand dead at 94
The inventor of the most prolific combat and duty handgun in the world has died, according to the company he founded. Gaston Glock, creator of the world’s most popular handgun, passed away on Wednesday at the age of ninety-four. Known for being both eccentric and reclusive, Glock was estimated... Read more
Counterinsurgency, Policing and the Militarization of America’s Cities
I can remember both so well. 2006. My first raid in South Baghdad. 2014. Watching on YouTube as a New York police officer asphyxiated — murdered — Eric Garner for allegedly selling loose cigarettes on a Staten Island street corner not five miles from my old apartment. Both events... Read more
Even the Army’s Crowd-Control Rulebook Says Ferguson Police Tactics Were Dumb
This story  originally appeared on Aug. 15, 2014. The crackdown by police in the Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 protests revealed just how militarized American law enforcement has become. But it’s not just militarization of the police that’s a problem—it’s that police departments also are taking the wrong lessons from... Read more
Did the Chicago Police Department Betray One of Its Own?
Internal Chicago Police Department emails revealed to War Is Boring show the department failed to pursue evidence that could exonerate the CPD sergeant who shot and killed a 19-year-old man in November 2016. On Nov. 23, 2016, Sgt. John Poulos shot Kajuan Raye in the back during a foot... Read more
American Police Are Acting Like Military Occupiers
Four people arrested at an inauguration protest in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20, 2017 are suing the city’s Metropolitan Police Department for using rape and molestation as a form of punishment. Photojournalist Shay Horse, volunteer legal-observer Judah Ariel and protesters Elizabeth Lagesse and Milo Gonzalez allege they were assaulted... Read more
Stopping Gangs Means Talking to Gang Members
Chicago’s gang problem is different in many ways from a full-scale counterinsurgency campaign, such as the one the United States fought against Iraqi insurgents from 2003 to 2011. Although Chicago’s 786 homicides in 2016 would make the city the 13th deadliest global armed conflict, Chicago’s gang members rarely directly... Read more
A Gang Broke Apart, Then Baltimore Homicides Spiked
As you walk through Sandtown-Winchester, Baltimore City’s most violent neighborhood, the years of socio-economic degradation are readily apparent. In violent areas of Chicago, such as the Austin neighborhood, the main thoroughfares are littered with liquor stores and boarded up buildings, but the residential areas are generally well-kept and the... Read more
The Russian ‘Traumatic Pistol’ Is Arizona Cops’ Latest Weapon
Police departments across America are under increased scrutiny after a series of highly controversial police shootings — many caught on video. Most recently, Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with murder for shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald to death. Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times and continued to fire rounds while the... Read more
South Carolina Sheriff Gets In Trouble Trying to Trade For a Spy Plane
Leon Lott, the colorful and immensely popular sheriff of Richland County, South Carolina — the county encompassing the state capitol Columbia — really digs military hardware. Arguably the most famous photo of Lott depicts him posing in front of his department’s M-113 armored personnel carrier, replete with a .50-caliber... Read more
Let’s Fix Ferguson by Giving Cops More Military Gear
David Trachtenberg is president and CEO of Shortwaver Consulting. He served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy and as a professional staff member of the House Armed Services Committee. In this op-ed, Trachtenberg responds to events in Ferguson, Missouri by advocating an increasing in... Read more