I was born into a military family and raised largely in the American South, where I learned to shoot in the Boy Scouts and was on a rifle team in high school. I served in the Air National Guard as a small arms specialist and in the Army National Guard as an anti-tank platoon leader. Worked for the Department of Defense (Advanced Research Projects Agency) in Thailand for a while during the Vietnam War. I also served three years as a District of Columbia Police Department reserve officer. I graduated from the University of Florida (BA Pol. Sci. 1962)(Go Gators!) and Georgetown University Law Center (1972, editor, Law Journal). I've followed a wandering career course, practiced law in and out of government, became a journalist and ended up serving six years as assistant managing editor at the very conservative The Washington Times newspaper in Washington. My guru was the former editor-in-chief Arnaud de Borchgrave, a true professional whose passion was and is journalism and truth, not ideology. I also reported from Central America, Russia, India, Pakistan and the first Gulf War before leaving The Times. I then spent two years at a small think tank in Washington studying terrorism and international organized crime, and from there went to work in 1993 (following the first WTC bombing attack) as a Democratic counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Crime Subcommittee, where I worked on legislation and hearings involving terrorism and firearms. I currently work part-time at the nonprofit Violence Policy Center in Washington. I sought out this work and center after I was converted from an NRA partisan to a gun control advocate based on what I learned about the predatory American gun industry while serving on "the Hill." The rest of my time I devote to projects involving the study of crime, terrorism, and history.I used to be a "Scoop Jackson Democrat" politically, but today I am decidely non-partisan---I find little competence, honesty, or source of inspiration in either "organized party."