To begin there is no reason for me to address a financial issue here, but, the inflation Republicans hold dear as a spending problem is not that at all, it is a savings problem. During the time Americans were quarantined at home they received income to support themselves and their families. They saved money, and who wouldn't given the surprise attack of a virus by a president that was unqualified to protect them. But, to conclude, when the economy opened up people began to spend those monies they were saving and it was on big-ticket items, such as cars and homes. As a result, the higher demand which was counter to the demand only a short time ago by quarantine, resulted in supply chain shortages as cutbacks occurred during the virus shut down. I think most Americans can discern the inability of capitalism to maintain REASONABLE prices when demand skyrockets vs an otherwise poor economy with high-interest rates that normally drive inflation.
As to Mr. Thune, he is a very inflammatory figure in his rhetorical speech on the US Senate floor chamber. I will place evidence here that dispels his rhetoric. But, what bothers me more is the fact he has now labeled himself as a person that believes in spending plenty on the country's police. He will not back away from that rhetoric and it is wrongful rhetoric. However, Mr. Thune will never apologize for the rhetoric and instead will double down on it and demand legislative resolves to his nonsensical politics.
There has been an uptick in violence in major cities around the country.
August 16, 2021
By Josh Campbell
...From May to June 2020, (click here) homicides in 20 major US cities increased by 37%, led by Chicago, Philadelphia and Milwaukee, according to new data from the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) think tank. Aggravated assaults jumped by 35% over the same period of time, while other types of crime were down....
Those are the facts, but, they are not all the facts. Gun sales escalated beyond any expectations during the same period of time. Before I get into the very significant gun issue, there was a decrease in other crimes, too.
Crime Rates and COVID-19 (click here) : A Review of Data from 27 American Cities
You can read it for yourself, but, all the crime rates were down after the shutdown was instituted. Less of everything from purse snatching to drug crimes that normally occur "on the street."
Property and drug crime rates fell significantly during the spring and early summer of 2020, coinciding with stay-at-home mandates and business closings. Residential burglary dropped by 20% between February and June 2020. Larceny and drug offenses decreased by 17% and 57%, respectively, between March and June. These declines reflect quarantines (people staying home resulting in reduced opportunities for residential burglary), business closings (reduced opportunities for shoplifting), and reduced police and street activity (fewer open-air drug transactions)....
Below are graphs below regarding the sales of guns in the USA comes from a group by the name of "The Trace (click here)." The Trace's front page is interesting as well. They go beyond awareness to advocacy such as this article.
If adopted, (click here) the rule would require brace owners to apply to the NFA Division, which has long been understaffed and routinely misses its own performance benchmarks.
The very agencies and offices within the federal government required to do the policing have been stripped of their capacity to keep up with their responsibilities. They are understaffed. So much for safeguards.
But as to The Trace gun sales recordkeeping (click here). The graphs look confusing, but, the color difference displays separate types of guns. The blue are handguns and the more orange or peach color are long guns (rifles and shotguns).
The pandemic sales are especially enlightening. The sales of long guns even went through the roof, but, the sales of handguns are incredibly high. Now, what do gun sales have to do with homicides? For real? Mr. Thune isn't aware of the spike in gun sales. To me, the record-setting gun sales have directly contributed to homicides in our larger cities.
I sat in on a recent meeting that provided the necessary 8-hour exposure to guns and their laws in order to get a concealed carry permit, a story was told of two men who were arguing over their mobile phones while driving down a highway with their families were in the car. The argument became so heated the two men pulled off the highway and walked to the back and front of their cars and killed each other with concealed carry permitted handguns in their cars. Right there in front of their families. Two dead providers, to the well-being of their families killed each by the side of the road because they could not hold their anger, and the guns, were handy.
That is the real cost of having so many guns on the street, it creates solutions to social arguments that didn't exist before.
But, certainly, Mr. Thune knew about these statistics alongside that of his rant about defunding police. During the protest marches police were also used differently. Rather than patrolling, they were downtown with riot gear on to confront protesters.
The pandemic caused economic hardship which increases stress resulting in violence and in the USA where guns flow like water, the violence is met with a new answer, the power of a pistol.
"The Trace" goes beyond these graphs to drop-down menus that show gun sales over time and state by state. It seems like an excellent resource that has done it's homework.
If there are more guns on the street it is guaranteed there will be more homicides. The power of the final solution to any hate, greed or anger is too tempting to many people.
So, why is the increase in homicides in USA cities happening; economic strife, anxiety with the pandemic, the death of George Floyd and the continual trials to find justice for his heinous death, a social movement to defund police, the demoralization of police who do their best to do a good job, and the change in assignment of police from neighborhood policing to confronting protesters. Heavy within this dynamic was and is racism that was palpable.
So, while Mr. Thune tries to villanize the Democratic Party as those that allow violence and even propagate it while hating police, he is dead wrong. He is exploiting a SINGLE dynamic of these very upsetting and sad statistics in order to play his particular type of politics. The explosion of homicides in our cities is complicated and isn't solved by ONLY placing police on the street. That is how we got here in the first place.
