‘Law and Order’ from Democrats?
Getting ahead of the coming Republican branding efforts?
Homicides in the first quarter of 2021 were 24 percent higher than during the same period in 2020, and 49 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2019. And according to the Gun Violence Archive, guns are driving much of that spike.
“It is staggering. It is sobering,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco acknowledged Tuesday in a town hall with police chiefs. “It is something that DOJ is committed to do all we can to reverse what are profoundly troubling trends and a really bad trajectory that we’re on.”
For weeks, the White House has been in touch with major cities to gauge the severity of the issue. That has included a discussion in May between domestic policy adviser Susan Rice and Lightfoot, in which the mayor laid out ways the federal government could help. On June 15, Lightfoot was among more than two dozen mayors who signed a letter asking the White House to take further action, ranging from investigating federally-licensed gun dealers and cracking down on illegal gun sales over social media platforms.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced five strike forces that will target the flow of illegal firearms into places like New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. While Chicago, for example, has its own gun control measures in place, it has historically contended with the illegal trafficking of weapons from nearby Indiana, as well as southern states.
The DOJ announcement was in advance of Biden’s speech Wednesday on the rise of shootings and other violent crime. The president is expected to unveil additional measures targeting guns and crime, including giving cities the ability to tap funding from his American Rescue Plan to help combat violence, imposing a new zero tolerance policy toward gun dealers who break the law, and investing in community policing, among other initiatives, according to a senior administration official.
Still, stemming the violence in major cities will be far more complicated, involving a delicate balancing act with both the left flank of the president’s party and law enforcement.
Republicans, led by former President Donald Trump, are already attempting to pin the rash of violence on the White House, even though increases in gun violence happened during the previous administration. Conservative media outlets are carrying a steady stream of foreboding headlines highlighting the rise of year-over-year shootings and homicides….
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The Republican attacks have focused to a large extent on cities that curtailed their police budgets only to seek to reinstate, or even expand, funding for law enforcement in 2021. Biden himself, aides and allies note, has advocated for more community policing, which focuses on deepening relations with an area to reduce lower-level offenses, even when the tactic fell out of favor with some Democrats….
Note…
This could be where Vice President Harris (ex-prosecutor) and Susan Rice get something to sink their teeth into policy and action wise to help Democrats, Biden and the American public….