Former Montana Secretary of State and State Senate president Bob Brown owns 20 guns.  As state legislator, was he was honored with a commendation from the NRA for his support of gun rights. But after the Newtown shooting, he's tells The Takeaway how the NRA has changed, what he believes the fight ahead over gun control legislation will be like, and why he’s considering leaving the organization.

It's been 150 years since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Historian and novelist A.J. Verdelle talks about what this meant for the millions who were freed. 

Robert Caro is the author of the multi-volume Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, “The Years of Lyndon Johnson.”  The most recent installment is entitled "The Passage of Power." He sat down with The Takeaway's John Hockenberry to reflect on the unique obstacles and successes President Johnson faced after his election in 1964.

It happened last night, whether we were ready for it or not: The New Year. And today, on the first day of 2013, some of us are dragging our feet (perhaps with a headache) into the future, but others of us are literally jumping in.

In the face of a new year, many of us take comfort in predictions of what's to come. Bill O'Toole is in the business of divining the future. He is the prognosticator of the 217-year-old J. Gruber's Hagerstown and Country Almanack.

In India, the story of a young woman student brutally raped and left to die on the streets of Delhi has motivated an historic discussion of violence against women. 

During periods following brutal acts of violence or unthinkable devastation, it is easy for our brains to run wild with worry. But as violence declines worldwide, is there any argument to be made that chaos to some extent is the catalyst for reflection and change? When societies face a crisis, do they increasingly look inward to evolve? Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined," explains.