Editor’s note: We published this article nearly three months ago, on 10 September 2025. The recent revelations about the killing, on 2 September, of two survivors who were clinging to a sinking shipwreck after their boat had been destroyed in the initial attack by U.S. forces, highlight the deeper problems with the Trump administration’s approach of using military force to deal with what is essentially a law-enforcement issue.
Licensed gun dealers are a major source of firearms that end up illegally trafficked, according to a new analysis using federal data by the research arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates for stricter gun laws.
Gun trafficking involves diverting guns from legal commerce into the illegal market, often through straw purchases, unlicensed dealing or other methods that bypass background checks and federal recordkeeping requirements.
A largely overlooked directive issued by the Trump administration marks a major shift in U.S. counterterrorism policy, one that threatens bedrock free speech rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
President Donald Trump continues to use his pardon powers in remarkable ways. Now he has pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking.
Cato asked me to write a statement on this development and here is what I wrote:
As the Trump administration’s immigration dragnet intensified in June, a nurse in Portland, Oregon, left work one midafternoon and drove to a nearby detention facility to voice his opposition. Federal agents had set off smoke grenades, driving away many protesters at the front of the facility, but Vincent Hawkins lifted his megaphone anyway.
“You should stop and think about what you’re doing!”
The Trump administration wants access to state driver’s license data on millions of U.S. residents as it builds a powerful citizenship verification program amid its clampdown on voter fraud and illegal immigration.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security seeks access to an obscure computer network used by law enforcement agencies, according to a federal notice, potentially allowing officials to bypass negotiating with states for the records.
President James Garfield’s life is defined by the man who ended it. Charles Guiteau, Garfield’s assassin, has been historically characterized as a megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur. However, it’s another label that helps explain why he shot the president: office seeker.
The definition of a ‘terrorist act’ included in Australia’s Criminal Code since 2002 has been important in protecting Australia’s national security and reinforcing the resilience of our democratic institutions. That definition, currently the subject of an inquiry by the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM), continues to be relevant and effective. It should be retained with minimal revision.
Many people celebrated President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting “political debanking.” Yet, those same people seem to be silent now that the president created new pressures to effectively debank the left.
Political violence among rival partisans has been a deadly and destabilizing force throughout history and across the globe. It has claimed countless lives, deepened social divisions and even led to the collapse of democratic systems.
Cameras made by Flock Safety are used to automatically capture images of license plates on passing vehicles. (Flock Safety Photo)
Cameras that automatically capture images of vehicle license plates are being turned off by police in jurisdictions across Washington state, in part after a court ruled the public has a right to access data generated by the technology.
Police in Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley turned off their cameras before the Nov. 6 ruling in Skagit County Superior Court, and Redmond, Lynnwood and Skamania County turned off their cameras after the ruling, according to a report in The Seattle Times on Tuesday.
The debate stems from the use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) made by Flock Safety, and whether the images and data collected by the cameras are subject to release under Washington’s Public Records Act.
According to court records and the Times, Jose Rodriguez, a tattoo artist who works in Walla Walla, filed public records requests for the ALPR photos and data of about 50 public agencies across Washington.
“The government can’t just put a tracker on us without a warrant, but these (cameras) are basically doing the same thing,” Rodriguez told the Times. He sued 10 cities, including Sedro-Woolley and Stanwood, that didn’t provide their images and data after his public records requests.
“The Flock images generated by the Flock cameras … are public records,” Judge Elizabeth Neidzwski wrote in her ruling, adding that the images are “created and used to further a governmental purpose” and were paid for and generated for the benefit of the cities fighting not to release the data.
The Redmond Police Department announced in August that it was installing automated license plate readers in strategic areas across the city. (Redmond PD Photo)
ALPR cameras are intended as a public safety tool, to automatically alert officers and analysts when a vehicle linked to a crime, missing person, stolen vehicle, or other critical incident is detected.
The cameras do not use facial recognition or random surveillance, and images and data are supposed to be deleted from Flock’s cloud-based storage system within 30 days.
Flock Safety told the Times that privacy concerns about its technology are unjustified, and that the company’s cameras take pictures of vehicles on public roads, where there is no expectation of privacy. The company said it is advocating a “legislative fix” to Washington’s Public Records Act.
Privacy advocates argue that the technology could be used for mass surveillance. Researchers at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights reported last month that 18 Washington police agencies had their Flock Safety databases searched this year by the U.S. Border Patrol. The state’s “Keep Washington Working Act” bars most state agencies from cooperating with immigration enforcement.
The Redmond Police Dept. started deploying ALPR cameras this summer but turned them off earlier this month after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested seven people, and raised concerns that ICE had accessed the city’s Flock data.
In another incident, a Redmond man was detained when police acted on an alert generated by a Flock camera. KING 5 reported that the system wrongly flagged the man’s car as being “associated” with his son, who shares his name and was wanted on a felony warrant.
When Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers stormed through Santa Ana, California, in June, panicked calls flooded into the city’s emergency response system.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the life sciences, accelerating breakthroughs in research, drug discovery and biotechnology. However, some of the AI tools that drive innovation can also be misused, posing significant dual-use risks.Ensuring that these technologies are developed and deployed responsibly requires a clear, structured understanding of the capabilities of individual AI-enabled biological tools and their potential misuse applications.
FBI Director Kash Patel granted waivers to Deputy Director Dan Bongino and two other newly hired senior FBI staff members, exempting them from passing polygraph exams normally required to gain access to America’s most sensitive classified information, according to a former senior FBI official and several other government officials.
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