Who is responsible for the wave of violent crime that has been sweeping the country for the last year?
Democrats first explained that the double-digit increase in murders and shootings was because of the pandemic. They then denied that it even existed. It was right-wing propaganda to say that American cities were ultra-violent hellholes.
Defunding the police had absolutely nothing to do with the increase in crime. Targeting cops for doing their job during the riots didn’t lead to a collapse in police morale and was long overdue. And you’re delusional if you think that coddling rioters, looters, and arsonists created an atmosphere where lawbreakers feel untouchable.
Just the same, Democrats have begun to panic because the American people refuse to share their delusions. But realistically, what can they do? They sided with the mob about there being too many police on the streets so they can’t do anything about that. They sided with radical states’ attorneys who ended bail, lightened sentences, and demonized police so they’re hardly in a position to call for a crackdown.
Related: Skyrocketing Crime Spike Causes Woke Cities That Defunded Their Police to Re-Fund Them
Joe Biden gave a speech on Wednesday about the frightening rise in urban violence. It’s what presidents do when they know they’re in trouble on an issue. In Biden’s case, he’s about to ramp up the impressive PR apparatus available to him as president to deal with the scourge.
Like any good Democrat, he wants to grab for the guns and hope that frightened people will agree that getting someone’s name on a gun register for buying a gun will halt the madness or that stopping the sale of one kind of weapon or another will lessen the violence from gangs.
Joe Biden apparently believes that private citizens who possess guns that look like military assault weapons are the threat. He thinks that “large-capacity ammunition clips” lead to mass murders. He thinks the only reason people buy these assault weapon look-alikes is to protect themselves from a tyrannical government.
Biden — as all Democrats do — misses the point. The Second Amendment doesn’t say an American needs to explain to anyone — least of all the government — why they want to purchase a particular kind of weapon. Biden — as all Democrats do — misses the point. It’s not about guns. It’s about individual liberty.
Even as a practical political measure, banning weapons of one kind or another is absurd. It won’t save a single life or prevent a single mass killing. Biden’s “plan” is gun control theater. His call for a ban on some weapons will be hailed by gun control advocates who have their fundraising appeals ready to go, asking people to give so they can “defeat” the NRA and the “gun nuts.”
Like any good theatrical production, this one has plenty of make-believe.
Biden also boasted of “historic funding for crime prevention” in the $350 billion for state and local governments, from the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, that can be used by cities to hire law enforcement officers, pay overtime, prosecute gun traffickers and invest in technology to make law enforcement more efficient. Officials said the Biden administration hoped cities would choose to use the money for alternatives to policing, too, and to invest in community policing models.
The administration has also taken aim at “ghost guns” and modified firearms, which are homemade firearms without serial numbers that can be used to trace them, making it difficult for law enforcement to determine where, by whom, or when they were manufactured and to whom they were sold.
This is actually a radical idea: funding the police by defunding them. If that confuses you, don’t worry. Democrats have it all figured out. Just ask them.
Biden also pushed hiring programs to keep young people busy and off the streets during the summer months, as they’re often both the target and perpetrators of such violence. Biden said such programs encouraged youth to “pick up a paycheck instead of a pistol.”
A jobs program for gang members? What could go wrong?
As Democratic mayors very quietly take the shackles off their police departments, add more officers, start throwing the book at violent offenders, and play down the efforts at “community policing,” the crime rate will fall.
Democrats may not have taken credit for the explosion in violent crime. But you know they’ll take credit when it inevitably starts to fall.
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