Critics Claim 'Defund the Police,' Strict Gun Laws Keep People From Defending Selves

Critics of the movement to reallocate law enforcement funding and impose more legal restrictions on firearms claim that this will hamper people's ability to defend themselves, the Washington Examiner reports.

"If you’re primarily disarming the most law-abiding good citizens who obey the law, you make it easier for criminals to go and commit crimes," said John Lott, a former adviser to the Trump administration who wrote the book, "More Guns, Less Crime."

He added that "You have had the biggest spikes in the areas where police are not being allowed to do their job either because of orders or because of changes in budgets. It’s not really shocking to me that you see the increase."

Lott pointed to Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle as examples of this.

"I would have been surprised if you hadn’t seen an increase in crime," he added.

Lott went on to say that calls for increased restrictions on firearms won’t solve the problem.

"My question would be, what changed last year with regard to gun control that could explain [an increase in homicides]?" he said. "If gun control or the lack of it is responsible for the spike, what changed last year that coincided with the big increase that we saw in murders?"

Doug Seaton, the president of the Upper Midwest Law Center, told the Examiner that Minneapolis’ cuts to the city’s police budget have caused a spike in crime.

"These individuals are longtime residents of the city [and] taxpayers, lived in this neighborhood, have suffered bullets through their walls and had people shot on their blocks and dying," said Seaton, whose organization is representing a group of eight citizens petitioning the decision in court. "They were well acquainted with violence that’s been the outcome of this preposterous defund the police campaign."

He also said that the city council’s proposed "department of public safety" would replace the police department.

"When you’re dealing with violent shooters in the neighborhood, psychologists, social workers, and neighborhood volunteers are not going to be the ticket," Seaton said.

"Law enforcement isn’t allowed to do its job to protect people, and then, we have politicians trying to pass or that have passed laws that prevent individuals ... from being able to go and protect themselves," Lott concluded. "If my research convinces me of anything, it’s that people who are most likely victims of violent crime are the ones who benefit the most from being able to go and protect themselves."

• Poll: Americans Say Violent Crime Bigger Problem Than Pandemic
• New York Police Probe Hate Crime After Jewish Man Attacked