The “strike force” will be going after gun trafficking and not specifically on crime prevention.
Fox News has reported that Biden is sending “strike forces” into several major cities including Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The goal is to help officials “crackdown on illegal gun trafficking.” But it is still not clear whether “illegal gun trafficking” is directly responsible for spiking crime.
Lori Lightfoot, the Mayor of Chicago, talked about the “strike force” program after meeting with President Biden on the tarmac at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport last week.
“My hope and my expectation is that they’re going to be coming relatively soon. I’ve made no secret of the fact that this is a matter of incredible urgency and I think the president’s plan is to make a difference in localities like Chicago this summer,” Mayor Lightfoot said.
Fox News added this: “The strike force teams will coordinate with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and share information with local and state law enforcement agencies about where firearms originate and where they are used to commit crimes in an effort to bring down gun-dealing rings.”
Merrick Garland, Biden’s Attorney General, announced the intention to help fight crime in cities across America in June. But at that time, the Department of Justice had not decided on which cities would receive a targeted strike force of federal agents. Attorney-General Garland made it clear that the strike forces would focus on illegal guns and the “iron pipeline.” This describes carrying handguns and other weapons from states with lax gun laws to states with strict gun laws.
In the June statement, Garland said, “Working with our local partners to tackle violent crime is one of the Justice Department’s most important responsibilities.”
Fox News noted, “Today, the department is taking another concrete step to address violent crime and illegal firearms trafficking.”
New York State officials have complained that the “iron pipeline” supplies criminals in New York City. Mayor Lightfoot believes that sellers in Indiana are supplying criminals in Chicago. She also believes that Chicago suburbs have “very lax gun laws,” that allow criminals to purchase weapons and traffic them back into the city.
But those issues were true long before the current spike in violent crime in Chicago. At a time when many major cities are reporting a lower number of shootings than in 2020, Chicago is experiencing a more violent 2021.
Mayor Lightfoot has made it clear in the past that a primary driver for the city’s violence is racism. The “strike force” does not address that issue.
Lightfoot said to the city’s public television station, WTTW, that “violence is a manifestation of systemic problems, and it’s a public health crisis. When you see, in way too many neighborhoods, a lack of jobs, a lack of investment — these are historic, decades-long problems.”
Fox News added, “At least 1,600 people have been shot so far in Chicago in 2021 — an 11% increase compared to 2020 and a 58% increase compared to 2019, according to the Chicago Police Department’s crime statistics for the week ending June 28.”
That number includes approximately 12 children and at least 36 police officers.
Ironically, Mayor Lightfoot refused then-President Donald Trump’s offer of federal assistance to help curb the city’s violence in 2020. She did allow then-Attorney General William Barr to assist with breaking up organized crime rings that were also dealing in stolen weapons
No comments:
Post a Comment