Author: Mark Follman

The Uvalde Massacre Could Have Been Prevented

One year after a suicidal 18-year-old opened fire with an AR-15 rifle inside Robb Elementary School, most of the public discussion remains focused on how a swarm of law enforcement failed for more than an hour to put an end to the attack. By the time police finally went into the classroom and killed the […]

How a Weapon of War Has Worsened the Mass Shootings Epidemic

It was a grim but not terribly surprising coincidence. Last Monday morning, just a few hours after the Washington Post published a new series on the popular semiautomatic rifles known as AR-15s, a suicidal 28-year-old used one to murder three children and three adults at a Nashville elementary school. It was the sixth mass shooting […]

Trump’s Return to Twitter and Facebook Will Fuel More Political Violence

Soon after Elon Musk purchased Twitter in late October, the tech mogul reinstated Donald Trump’s account, which the company had shut down permanently after Trump used Twitter to help instigate the January 6 insurrection. The twice-impeached ex-president hasn’t tweeted again yet, instead sticking to posting on his own far less influential and financially shaky Truth […]

6-Year-Old School Shooter Case Grows Even More Disturbing

Before a 6-year-old intentionally shot his teacher in Newport News, Virginia, last Friday, school officials learned that the boy may have had a gun in his possession but failed to find it, the school system’s superintendent said late this week. According to reports from a local TV station and the Associated Press, superintendent George Parker said during […]

Yes, January 6 Was a Heavily Armed Insurrection

Two years after the January 6 disaster, evidence continues building that numerous extremists went to Washington that day armed with guns, tactical gear, and other weapons. The mass attack on Congress incited by Donald Trump was grisly and devastating: The Capitol Building was damaged and desecrated, scores of law enforcement agents were assaulted, a QAnon […]

Investigations of the January 6 Insurrection Are Far From Over

It has been nearly two years since organized far-right extremist groups and others who believed the lie that the 2020 election was stolen went to the US Capitol and unleashed violence and destruction. On Monday, the bipartisan House committee investigating the January 6 catastrophe is expected to take action against its prime instigator, Donald Trump, […]

The Tragedy of the Oxford High School Mass Shooting Deepens

In the year since a mass shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan left four students dead and many others injured and traumatized, questions have loomed about whether the carnage could have been prevented. The most intense media focus has been on the role of the shooter’s parents. They bought a semiautomatic pistol for their […]