Wayne Laugesen is an American columnist, video producer,
gun rights
The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, including securi ...
advocate and editorial page editor of the ''
Colorado Springs Gazette
''The Gazette'' is a Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. It has operated since 1873.
History
The publication began as ''Out West'', beginning March 23, 1872, but failed in its endeavor. ...
''. Laugesen writes fo
The Washington Examiner the ''
National Catholic Register
The ''National Catholic Register'' is a Catholic newspaper in the United States. It was founded on November 8, 1927, by Matthew J. Smith as the national edition of the '' Denver Catholic Register''. The ''Registers current owner is the Ete ...
'', ''Faith & Family'' magazine, is a former editor of ''
Soldier of Fortune'', ''
Boulder Weekly
''Boulder Weekly'' is an alternative newsweekly that publishes every Thursday in Boulder, Colorado. The paper is a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) and is owned and published by Stewart Sallo.
Overview
Following the L ...
'', and was managing editor of the former "
Consumers' Research Consumers' Research is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 1929 by Stuart Chase and F. J. Schlink after the success of their book ''Your Money's Worth, Your Money's Worth: a study in the waste of the Consumer's Dollar'' galvanized int ...
" national magazine in Washington, D.C. Laugesen has produced the international Catholic prayer series, "Holy Baby!".
Urban planning
Laugesen, who considers himself a conservative libertarian, has criticized urban planners who advocate "affordable housing" while harming minorities and the poor with anti-growth policies.
His work became the topic of a journalistic ethics debate
in 2004, when he smashed historic windows from a Boulder, Colorado, home in protest of historic preservation orders by the Boulder City Council—an act that led media critic Michael Roberts to coin the phrase "commando journalism".
Guns
As assistant editor of ''Soldier of Fortune'' in the 1990s, Laugesen helped obtain guns and training for women in a Boulder neighborhood that was stalked by a serial rapist.
He brought an obscure vice principal to the forefront by giving him ''Soldier of Fortunes annual Humanitarian Award for using a handgun to stop a school massacre in
Pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...
,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
.
Laugesen stirred controversy among ''Soldier of Fortunes conservative readership with a cover story that criticized modern police for exceeding their authority and violating the rights of citizens.
Timothy McVeigh
Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third o ...
, four years after perpetrating the 1995
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building
The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was a United States federal government complex located at 200 N.W. 5th Street in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 a.m. the building was the target of the Oklahoma City bombing ...
bombing, was asked by reporters to "describe his motivations" for his lethal actions. McVeigh mailed a copy of the March 1999 ''Soldier of Fortune'' article along with a letter to Fox News reporter
Rita Cosby
Rita Cosby (born November 18, 1964) is a television news anchor and correspondent, radio host, and best selling author. She is currently a special correspondent for the CBS syndicated program ''Inside Edition'', specializing in interviewing news ...
.
Catholic sex abuse scandal
As the
National Catholic Register's correspondent covering the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...
when the Catholic sexual abuse scandal emerged, Laugesen is often cited for research that has put the problem in context by comparing abuse statistics of Catholic institutions with those of other religious and secular organizations.
Drugs
Though preferring to be seen as a social conservative, Laugesen has been critical of the war on drugs. His drug war research often appears on web sites hosted by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
and other organizations devoted to drug legalization. Laugesen's research into the DARE program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) has led to articles
that have been used in campaigns to get DARE out of public and private schools.
Laugesen and The Gazette's editorial board wer
widely criticizedin 2015 for producing the series
Clearing the Haze,"which blasted state regulations and regulators for problems with Colorado's recreational and medicinal marijuana industries.
Religious controversies
Laugesen often defends Israel and Judaism, but was accused of anti-semitism in a 2008 article in the Independent, an alternative newsweekly that intercepted an e-mail conversation between Laugesen and an official of the
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation'' (MRFF) is a watchdog group and advocacy organization founded in 2005 by Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein. The group's goal states it will, "Ensure that members of the United States Armed Forces receive the ...
, an organization that fights against military efforts to establish religion.
Other media reported on the controversy
and the allegations were quickly refuted.
A defender of religious liberty, Laugesen has become a frequent topic of criticism by atheist leader
PZ Myers
Paul Zachary Myers (born March 9, 1957) is an American biologist who founded and writes the ''Pharyngula'' science-blog. He is associate professor of biology at the University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) .
Dozens of other well-known atheist activists have come out against Laugesen,
including the atheist expert of About.com.
Laugesen has stirred controversy in Colorado and the mostly-conservative Christian city of Colorado Springs by advocating for Mosques, inviting them to build in Colorado. Conversely, Laugesen routinely defended the former Denver Broncos rookie quarterback
Tim Tebow against attacks from the secular media.
Laugesen was featured on national television and radio to discuss the Denver City Council's 2015 opposition to Chick-fil-A in Denver International Airport, as a result of CEO Dan Cathy's statements and donations in support of traditional marriage and family.
Video producer
Laugesen and his wife, Dede,
are co-producers of Holy Baby! and Holy Baby! 2, a popular set of multilingual prayer videos for Catholic children that have been referred to as the Catholic Baby Einstein.
Personal
Laugesen, a Philadelphia native, explains that his philosophy was heavily influenced by the sudden death of his father, his widowed mother,
his conservative stepfather and author
M. Stanton Evans, founder of the
National Journalism Center
The National Journalism Center (NJC) is an American political organization established in 1977 by conservative journalist M. Stanton Evans. It runs programs and internships for journalism students to educate them on professional journalism, and c ...
.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laugesen, Wayne
American columnists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)