Former Editor of Guns & Ammo
Former Editor of Guns & Ammo magazine; Principal of Cook/Collins & Associates, a marketing and communications firm and expert consultant on advanced handgun and ammunition design for the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment
The Constitutional Right to Gun Ownership The US Supreme Court has settled an issue as old as the Bill of Rights: individuals must be allowed to own guns . But Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, also said, "Since this case represents this court's first in-depth examination of the Second Amendment, one should not expect it to clarify the entire field." Both sides have predicted a flood of lawsuits to seek "clarification," and sure enough, they're already being filed. If they can't ban guns, what kinds of regulations can governments impose? We ask about background checks, registration, assault weapons, trigger locks and carrying concealed weapons. What about gun crime and public safety? How long will it take to sort it all out, city by city and state by state?
The Deadliest Shooting Rampage in American History At least 33 people, including one gunman, are dead after a shooting rampage on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. There were two incidents--the first in a dormitory at 7:15am, the second in a classroom building two hours later. Police say they still don't know if the two incidents were related. If the same gunman was involved, some angry students say they don't understand how he was able to strike twice. We hear from Virginia, talk with the chief of campus security at UCLA and ask if California's gun laws would prevent a similar tragedy.
Buying, Selling and Using Assault Weapons in the US The International Association of Police Chiefs reports that high-caliber automatic weapons are increasingly common on the streets of American cities. Local police departments are fighting back with military-style armament of their officers. But there's dispute about whether the arms race started when the federal Assault Weapons Ban expired three years ago or long before that. Was the ban really all that effective? Are there other reasons both cops and criminals are more heavily armed? How come so many US assault weapons are turning up in Mexico? We hear from journalists, industry and policy and gun-safety experts.
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.