Wayne Laugesen is an American columnist, video producer, gun rights advocate and editorial page editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette.

[citation needed] 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.

[4] He brought an obscure vice principal to the forefront by giving him Soldier of Fortune's annual Humanitarian Award for using a handgun to stop a school massacre in Pearl, Mississippi.

[5] Laugesen stirred controversy among Soldier of Fortune's conservative readership with a cover story that criticized modern police for exceeding their authority and violating the rights of citizens.

[20] Laugesen, a Philadelphia native, explains that his philosophy was heavily influenced by the sudden death of his father, his widowed mother,[21] his conservative stepfather and author M. Stanton Evans, founder of the National Journalism Center.