With 29 states now making permitless carry available for those citizens who wish to practice their Second Amendment rights by carrying open or concealed—Louisiana and South Carolina the most recent two to sign such legislation into law—and courts every week striking down draconian gun laws as unconstitutional, and honestly, as the country slowly emerges from the societal disruption the pandemic caused on a global scale, crime rates, do appear to be slowly dropping on many fronts across the country. There are still challenges for sure and no one can sleep too easy, but from a straight statistics point, the numbers are at least trending in a better direction.
So, I guess it shouldn’t be surprising, despite his opposition to anything that supports gun rights in this country, that President Joe Biden decides to lay claim that it’s his policies and leadership (if you can call it that) that are to credit. Despite more guns on the street as he likes to argue, our communities are actually getting safer. So, what does his admin do, they take a victory lap on that news, and with it, all of the credit. Following is a statement issued by the White House the other day:
Across America, families want the same thing: the freedom to feel safe in their community. To know their kids are secure. My Administration is making it a reality. This week, the FBI released data showing that crime declined across nearly every category in 2023. Last year, we also had one of the lowest rates of all violent crime in more than 50 years and the murder rate saw the sharpest decrease in history. That’s good news for the American people.
In 2020, before I took office, the prior administration oversaw the largest increase in murders ever recorded. My Administration got to work on day one to fix that. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, which every Republican in Congress voted against, we made the largest-ever federal investment in fighting and preventing crime at any time in our history. That enabled cities and states to invest $15 billion in public safety. This record investment in crime reduction – in community violence intervention, mental health and additional officers – is delivering results. It is keeping law enforcement on the beat and keeping communities safe from violence. My Administration is also taking on the crisis of gun violence head on, with more executive actions on gun violence than any President in history and signing the most significant law to address gun violence in almost 30 years.
Keeping communities safe is my priority. While we’ve made major progress, we still have more work to do. That’s why I’ll keep fighting to make more investments in preventing crime, to fund additional accountable police officers to ensure trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, and to ban assault weapons to keep guns out of dangerous hands – and I will continue to urge Republicans in Congress to join me.
I guess that’s the beauty of politics. No matter what side of an issue you are on, what your political affiliations and leanings may be, and when considering all of the factors that go into establishing statistical trends in this country on policies as far reaching as the economy, international diplomacy, crime, guns, gays and abortion, if anything shows as a positive, you can always spin the argument to take credit for it.