When Wars Come Home

Police officers at a checkpoint during the manhunt Christopher Dorner, an ex-Los Angeles cop accused of three killings, on State Route 38 in Angelus Oaks, Calif., Feb. 12, 2013. (Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / The New York Times)
In the flood of commentary about the Newtown massacre and broader US gun violence, liberals tend to blame failures of gun control while conservatives blame the mentally ill and Hollywood. But they are both missing one important and overlooked explanation: the domestic consequences of a militarized superpower engaged in chronic wars around the world.

The US spends more money on the military than the next ten countries together. It also has the highest level of domestic gun violence in the developed world. Highly militarized societies cannot compartmentalize foreign from domestic violence. They cannot prevent wars - and guns - from coming home.

Read more