In recent years, a particularly dangerous breed of idiot has discovered a new form of entertainment: weaponizing the police against complete strangers.  It is called swatting . The formula is breathtakingly simple. Some coward sitting safely behind a telephone or computer contacts law enforcement, pretends to be a terrified victim, neighbor, or eyewitness, and reports a fictional emergency. Hostages are being held. Someone has a gun. A family is about to be murdered. Pick whatever nightmare is most likely to produce an immediate and heavily armed police response. Congratulations. With a few lies, some fool has potentially turned somebody else’s home into a battlefield. Swatting gained notoriety through online gaming feuds, where spectacularly immature sore losers decided that losing a video game apparently justified sending armed police to the winner’s house. But the insanity did not remain confined to gamers. Swatting has become a weapon for revenge, harassment, intimidation, a...