National Analysis

We Must Make Anti-Bullying a Mainstream Message

THE HILL 08/09/12 By Michael Shank On the heels of the Sikh temple shooting in Wisconsin, the U.S. Department of Education is hosting its Third Annual Bullying Prevention Summit this week, which is fortuitously timed and desperately needed. Without question, the Sikh temple shooter, Wade Michael Page, a self-proclaimed skinhead, […]

Mass Shootings Show Need for Gun Law Reform

Al Jazeera 08/09/2012 By Michael Shank The US needs more stringent background checks, more data on guns, an assault weapons ban – and more social capital. The real problem with the gun debate, nearly three weeks after the tragic Colorado theatre shooting and now just days after the tragic Wisconsin […]

Questions Must Be About Gun Safety

FINANCIAL TIMES 08/04/12 By Michael Shank Sir, The real problem with the US gun debate is that polling questions are frequently framed as gun rights not as gun safety (“It is plain wrong to see the gun lobby as Svengali”, July 28). Few Americans want their rights stripped, but most […]

Why the Gun Control Debate Doesn’t Do Justice to Colorado Killings

Huffington Post 07/20/2012 Al Jazeera 07/21/2012 By Michael Shank Why must the tragic Colorado theater shootings stimulate a debate on more than mere gun control? Not simply because, or however remarkable the fact that, violent mass killings — whether in Columbine, Virginia Tech or now Aurora — tend to have […]

With Income Inequality Comes Violence

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 07/18/12 By Michael Shank David Rosnick is spot on in “Breaking Down the Causes of Income Inequality” (07/16/12), but what about the effects of income inequality? Our research at the Institute for Economics and Peace shows that America’s high income inequality — at its highest […]

Can Washington Ever Welcome a Nonviolent Muslim?

Huffington Post 06/04/2012 By Michael Shank CBS News’ 60 Minutes recently produced a show about Turkish Muslim scholar Fethullah Gulen, spurred by concern about the so-called Hizmet movement’s alleged connection to a growing network of high performing and nationally ranked charter schools in the U.S. These schools rank in Newsweek’s […]

When Washington Welcomes A Nonviolent Muslim

POLITICO 06/02/12 By Michael Shank CBS News “60 Minutes” recently produced a show about Turkish Muslim scholar Fethullah Gulen, spurred by concern about the so-called Hizmet movement’s alleged connection to a growing network of high performing and nationally ranked charter schools in the US.  These schools rank in Newsweek’s top […]