Biden Is Going After Guns … Again
In response to the pandemic of deadly violence that has engulfed our major cities, President Biden has announced his “Strike Force.” Under the auspices of the Department of Justice, the program will put federal law enforcement personnel in five major cities to interdict the flow of illegal guns from sources in and beyond the target cities. This means gun shops selling guns illegally, straw buyers who pass them on to the criminals and anyone who simply sells their gun illegally.
The Strike Force will attempt to shut down the source of illegal guns. It will focus on Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C. as the hot spots of the current crime surge.
On the surface, that all sounds good … BUT
This is not actually a new program. In interviewing Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, who is in charge of the program, CNN’s Brianna Keilar (no friend of Trump) asked how this differed from President Trump’s program to cut off the supply of illegal guns. Monaco stammered a bit, saying that Biden was devoting more personnel to the program. It would be more focused. It would develop new techniques. After figuratively wiping the sweat off her brow, Monaco conceded Biden’s plan for guns was more or less an expansion of the former President’s program. Doesn’t that take away the high drama of Biden’s announcement?
Keilar caught Monaco off guard a second time when she inquired why those five cities were selected. The CNN host noted that they get the most publicity as centers of crime. But the murder rate is much higher in places like Detroit, St. Louis and Memphis. Who would have thought?
Again, Monaco stammered. The program, she said, will have residual benefits for all those cities since some of the illegal guns may flow to those communities as well. That was not a good answer – but then there is not a good answer. Apparently, the crafting of the expanded program followed the news reports and not the statistics.
Given the crisis level of crime in our Democrat-run cities (I just had to note that), one would think that even an almost new program would focus on the criminals – and the 600,000 illegal guns currently in use. But that puts the leftwing Democrats in a bit of a conundrum.
Ever since the backlash against Biden’s 1990’s crime legislation – that put a lot of black males in prison – the Democratic Party has been desperately trying to NOT put black criminals in jail. It is not just the defund the police movement — and don’t tell me they just meant reform. They meant defund. We know that because progressive Democrat administrations across the nation took money away from the police. They did it in Seattle, New York, Los Angeles and Washington, etc., etc., etc. –ironically the high crime cities.
If you want to address the reasons for the high crime rates in our segregated minority communities, you need to address a few of the causes. But again, Democrats are loath to put black criminals in jail – and keep them there.
After the shooting in Washington D.C., Police Chief Robert Contee went on a bit of a frustration-triggered rage. He blamed the courts, the prosecutors and even the Covid Pandemic for the number of hardened criminals roaming the streets of the nation’s capital. Contee said that they – the courts and prosecutors — emptied the prisons because of Covid. “Those people are now walking around our community today,” he said.
Contee also cited the no bail release programs – and passing laws that actually make some criminal laws unenforceable. And of course, he had harsh words about the defunding. He said that Washington is 200 officer short of what is minimally necessary to maintain law and order.
Contee was spot on in his criticism. While Biden blames guns and the failure to regulate them – and others blame poverty — Contee points to the primary problem – the politicians and officeholders in charge of the cities with large populations of segregated minorities. One my wonder if there is a common thread that binds all these administrations together. Oh yeah! Longstanding Democrat political machines.
We have seen what Contee describes in cities across the nation. How many of the looters and arsonists wound up in jail in Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, etc., etc.? Biden is not focusing on any of that. He is taking the leftwing position that the gun is the problem.
He should know that unless you stop the criminal, you will NOT stop crime. That was the clear message from the Washington police chief.
First of all, there are potentially hundreds of thousands of illegal guns in our crime-ridden cities already. The efforts of past Democrat administrations to seize those guns and prosecute their owners was ineffective to non-existent. Confiscation and buy-back programs have produced nice photographs of piles of guns and ammunition, but that is minuscule compared to the problem. It had been discovered that some of those selling their guns to authorities were criminals using the money to purchase upgraded guns – illegally.
By far, not all guns come from dealers or straw buyers. A large percentage are stolen or sold in private transactions. If you cut off one source, the criminals will just secure the guns from other sources – and the potential number of sources is virtually unlimited. That has been proven over and over again.
Once again, Democrats are proposing a symbolic action to make themselves look like they are actually fighting crime – while in reality they are diverting attention from the core problem of Democratic Party leadership and culpability in the crimes that are ravaging their cities. Nothing will change – just as nothing has changed for generations despite all the plans, proposals and programs – and the billions of dollars — that has already flowed over the damn in the name of fighting crime.
There is one obvious answer to reducing crime in our inner cities. Massive police presence. Arrests. Indictments. Convictions. And booting out the long-established Democrat machine politicians who have no interest in really solving the problem. Biden’s approach may arrest a few gun dealers and straw buyers but will do nothing to get guns off the streets – and more importantly, absolutely nothing to get those using illegal guns off the streets. So, which should be the top priority?
So, there ‘tis.
Simply solution. Don’t comply. Defund the police are disarm the people. What idiots came up with that plan? Oh I know. Socialist assholes!!! People in Mexico aren’t allowed guns but tell that to the cartels that rule the roost down there. I can see that more Americans are getting the picture.
Let’s just go whole hog and ban all firearms in the U.S., period. Send our military in with airplanes and ships, but no guns. Send our ‘boots on the ground’ in with swords, bows, and hand grenades, but no guns. Remove all the guns from the police and security guards, and then pass laws that, if you are caught with a working firearm, you spend a minimum of ten years in jail. We’ll see how our nation’s leaders fare when their personal security becomes ineffective, and our nation becomes a target for every other nation that dislikes us. But they would have gotten rid of our ‘evil guns’, so the present administration would win that war.
U can’t fix stupid, if u don’t go after the criminals causing all this chaos,crime,murder’s in dumbocrap cities, u fix nothing. When your out of touch with reality, like hidenbiden, it just gets worse than better. this phony talk about taking away guns, from people is plain stupid. U want to end this criminal activity, arrest the people causing it,not the ones who have nothing to do with the violence. Lock these people up,quit letting out of jail. If these mayors,judges,prosecutors don’t do there jobs,start locking them up, the problem will end. Taking guns away from law=abiding peopl, only makes the problem worse, ignorance is no answer, and there is plenty of that in this corrupt administration.
The duplicitous Biden “Administration” does not have a problem with guns. If it did, it wouldn’t open the border and allow criminals from all over the world bring in whatever they want. No, the Biden “Administration” only wants to confiscate the guns of its perceived opposition, who is anyone they deem as leaning conservative.
Some teen agers shoot up a school, the dummies turn around and blame law abiding gun owners. Never metion the criminals that do the actual crime. Is that the new way to solve crime?
“Pandemic of deadly violence” – nice wordsmithing Larry and I am so glad that you see violence, gun or otherwise, as a disease. Does that mean good guys using guns are good and sick?
Rather than focus on your fear-mongering use of the English language to conflate a disease killing 600,000 Americans on Trump’s watch with Biden’s attempt to curb gun death that kills a fraction of our pandemic, I am looking at your statement: “Given the crisis level of crime in our Democrat-run cities (I just had to note that).” No you didn’t Larry because it ain’t necessarily so.
It’s a conservative trope that “cities are run by Democrats, full of very unlawful Democrats” Just look at the comments here. Well, Larry, it’ ain’t necessarily so. Facts being our friends, let’s try some. It was a learning to me, hopefully you will gain some insight too.
About 65% of the top 100 cities are have Democratic mayors, 26% have Republican. The largest of these Republican cities is number 14 in size, Jacksonville Florida, where, according to Neighborhood Scout, it’s only safer than 8% of US cities, where a 100% rating is the safest. Not good. Next up is number 18 in size, Fort Worth, TX, and it’s only safer than 13% of US cities. I can keep going, but I think you get my drift – urban areas have more crime no matter which party holds the mayoral office.
Next, let’s look at the top 100 cities in America and see how Republican leadership defeats crime. Of notable Republican-run city crimes failures are San Bernadino, the 15th most dangerous city out of the top 100 cities in America according to Neighborhood Scout, close to making the top ten. Then there’s Stockton, 18th, Anchorage AK, number 28, Lubbock, TX, number 57, Tulsa is 60, Miami – number 64, and North Las Vegas squeaks in at 98.
Point is Larry that it appears that it’s not party politics that determines crime in these cities, not even sure it matters. That’s my only point, I have no expertise in the rest of the program you are talking about except to say one major issue in these cities is the “island without a moat” issue where the city can issue strict gun controls, but bad guys easily circumvent by going a few miles out of town. This is exasperated by what the gunnies have taught me – that islands of strict gun control create situations where good guys can’t get guns for defense, bad guys have no issue with breaking gun laws, and they know good chance good guy is not carrying. The island effect makes things far worse.
Would love to talk gun laws with you in another thread, I honestly think I have a good solution to make things better for gunnies and antigunners as well. I always like a win-win. But saying it’s just a Democratic-controlled city problem does not seem to be factually correct. It does not seem to be the party, it does seem to be the place.
“Take the guns first, due process second”
Biden isn’t trying to take your guns. Nobody is. But it’s a good talking point to rally the base. But as you pointed out, this is trump’s program with a little extra beef. How can responsible gun owners argue against getting illegal guns off the street? Or stopping illegal gun sales? Unless your readers are dealing in illegal arms possession and sales, it’s fundamentally dishonest to send an email with the headline,” Biden is coming for your guns”.
I do have a question for you. America has the highest incarceration rate in the “free world”, are you seriously advocating for putting more people behind bars? How about we address the root cause of the problem? As you have used as your rallying cry before, Democratic run Cities have high poverty, a disproportionate number of fathers locked in jail away from their families, poor school systems, little health care, less job prospects , less hope for the future.
Maybe Nixon’s idea of locking up black men and hippies wasn’t such a great idea after all. Now we are dealing with the repercussions of his decision to declare the war on drugs. Reagan’s policies accelerated the “Trap”. And here we are, Larry twisting words and policy to get clicks from trump’s cult.
Oh, and that was trump that said, “take the guns”, not Biden
The overwhelming majority of gun owners don’t go around shooting people. That being said, more prison time should be added for gun crimes even if no shots were fired. Making someone believe that they will be shot if they don’t hand over their wallets, jewelry or whatever should be handled an act of terrorism. Ben wants to turn the criminals loose and if they’re black don’t shoot them. Us Trump cult members know what should be done. If people choose to victimize others they themselves should become victims
Ben … You are so typical of the propagandized left. I called you a liar in the past because you were outright lying. I do not say that in all you write because some may just be ignorance or the creation of staw man arguments that you use as a matter of course. Case in point. No one — right or left — is against stopping the flow and possession of illegal guns. I know of many legal gun owners — and everyone of them calls for going after the illegal guns. You make a false claim by implication and then argue against you bogus claim. You lead paragraph is a staw man argument. The problem with Democrat policies in our cities is that they avoid going after the criminals. The emphasis of their focus is on the side of wrong issue.
I have answered your question in previous commentaries. But first I must note that your reference to Nixon is a distortion of history. The uptick in incarceration — especially of black males — was the result of the Clinton crime bills introduced and supported by … hmmm …. Senator Joe Biden. You should be able to recall how Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris attracted Biden on that issue during the presidential campaign.
The fight against drugs was baked into the American culture. During the 1940s and 1950s, every theater in America was showing public service shorts on the evils and dangers of drugs. That concern continued on at a steady pace. Nixon did nothing to change that trajectory. It was not until the Reagan administration that drug crimes were given a higher priority — with the First Lady’s “Just Say No” campaign and the heightened enforcement and education efforts increased public attention.. It can be debated whether the was a good idea or a bad idea, but we can say it was not a very successful effort. BUT, Regan did not change the laws to broaden the net of enforcement. The emphasis was on education. Strengthening the laws came along as part of the Biden/Clinton crime bills. Once again, Ben, your beyond good analysis to completely false narratives based on false facts.
I do not twist words. I say what i believe — based on the facts as I know them. On the other hand, if there ever was a television show called “Unreliable Sources,” you could be the host. You should take a lesson from Frank Stetson, who makes reasonable and cogent points — and produces facts that can be debated. I am not always agree … and then we have an intelligent examination of our facts and assumptions. You,on the other hand, spew talking points, false information and biased interpretations.
Larry says,
“The uptick in incarceration — especially of black males — was the result of the Clinton crime bills introduced and supported by … hmmm …. Senator Joe Biden.”
Pick a lane bro, Biden is responsible for mass incarceration, but is also responsible for not locking up enough criminals. Simone Biles dropped out of the Olympics , maybe you can take her place with the mental gymnastics you are twisting yourself in order to write this blog.
I have never lied on this blog. Like most of your writings, just because you say it, doesn’t make it so.
You may think Nixon didn’t do much to accelerate the drug war, his aids disagree with you.
“One of Richard Nixon’s top advisers and a key figure in the Watergate scandal said the war on drugs was created as a political tool to fight blacks and hippies, according to a 22-year-old interview recently published in Harper’s Magazine.
“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people,” former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman told Harper’s writer Dan Baum for the April cover story published Tuesday.
“You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
I get it Larry, it’s hard to ran a Republican echo chamber with out turning a blind eye to facts.
Ben … you are just establishing that the Nixon administration was demonizing drugs as were several of the previous administrations since cocaine was taken off the public consumption counters. Your taking about public relations political talk — not changes in the law that netted tens of thousands of black males into jail The arrest records had pretty much flat-lined until the Clinton/Biden crime bill. And In a pervious response, I specific identified your lying. You often write things about me that are not true. you even say I said things in commentaries that I never said. I call those lies.
Ben,
The other day I saw one of the five on Fox issue: “crimes rates are lower in Democratic cities where they don’t arrest criminals.” None of the other four said a word: crickets.
I just didn’t realize that you had to catch a criminal in order to log a crime. Live and learn, thanks Fox.
Remove the criminal; the gun becomes much less a problem. Execution is an under-utilized and too often delayed remedy and too many incarceration complexes have become attractive alternative living arrangements. MAKE PRISON PUNISHMENT!
Steve, I haven’t seen any statistics that indicate that the death penalty is a deterrent. Are you able to provide any?
Make prison a rehabilitative remedy and not a money maker for the private prison industry. Our society will be much better for it.
How much rehabilitation is — and was — provided in government run prisons? You have a poly-anna view that may make you feel good, but it does not address the issues in a productive way. Your gratuitous slam at private run prisons is just that. Like government operated prisons, some are better than others.
Larry,
You have no idea. As you sit in your ivory tower in Florida, while lecturing at Harvard, I’m in the trenches. I see how for profit prisons have ravaged my community. Gotta keep those numbers up, gotta keep the overseers paid.
You should research the for profit prison industry. Realize why they were started and why they continue with capacity minimums. It’s not for the greater good, it’s all about the money.
I think your fellow cultist that are now imprisoned for their roles in the insurrection might now agree that prison isn’t the best way to deal offenders.
I may be pollyannish in my views, but I’m not so blind to the ways of the world that I think the private prison industry is not doing additional harm to society.
Public hangings would really be a deterrent.