As crime continues to surge throughout the country, President Joe Biden is continuing his focus on gun control. The emphasis on guns is not surprising because, during the 2020 campaign, Biden put forth a plan to address guns in America.
What is unexpected and troubling, however, is that, along with his push for gun control, Biden is not also calling to reverse the policies that are correlated with (if not also the causation for) the rise in crime. Crime in New York is an example of Biden's failure to appropriately address the uptick in crime.
The rise in crime in New York City has coincided with New York State's elimination of cash bail, acceptance of the "defund the police" movement, a vilification of police, a reluctance to prosecute those who have been arrested, and a failure to address mental illness.
The logical approach to reduce crime would have been to reverse these policies. Even though Biden is committed to gun control, one would have thought that he would have championed the reversal of these policies along with or in addition to his gun control measures.
Biden, however, did not take this common sense approach. Instead, when he met with New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Feb. 3, Biden's solution was a plan focused on gun control. Attorney General Merrick Garland expanded on this pledge. Mayor Adams created "The Blueprint to End Gun Violence."
It considers New York's crimes primarily through the prism of gun violence and makes suggestions (from police units to prosecutions) to target the elimination of guns. In addition, New York City's new District Attorney Alvin Bragg wants to decrease the number of crimes which can receive prison sentences, downgrade or entirely remove charges for many felonies, and stop prosecuting many crimes.
New York City continues to face crime which either does or does not involve guns. Crime statistics are staggering. March had three high-profile crimes which did not include guns.
An attacker shoved an 87-year-old woman to the ground, and she died from her injuries. An attacker recently punched a 67-year-old female 125 times. An attacker jumped over a reception desk and stabbed two women at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. In January, an attacker pushed a woman onto a subway track in front of an incoming train.
Biden, Adams, and Bragg's approach is emblematic of the Democrats' approach to crime. They are so focused on gun control that they do not focus enough on other factors and policies contributing to crime. One can debate the reason for their single-mindedness. The result of their policies, however, is undeniable: Crime continues to escalate.
New York decreased its crime in the 1990s with the leadership of Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others. To defeat crime now, New York should return to the policies which beat crime thirty years ago (New York should also hire Giuliani to consult in this process). Other cities which face increasing crime should adopt these policies as well. If Democrats want to pursue gun control, they should not do so at the exclusion of the policies which lessen crime and make communities safer.
Michael B. Abramson is a practicing attorney. He is also an adviser with the National Diversity Coalition for Trump. He is the host of the "Advancing the Agenda" podcast and the author of "A Playbook for Taking Back America: Lessons from the 2012 Presidential Election." Follow him on his website and Twitter, @mbabramson. Read Michael B. Abramson's Reports — More Here.
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