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A26 u.s. news
Diaranson 23 Juni 2021

Biden pushes effort to combat rising tide of violent crime

(AP) — President Joe check system hit an all-time
Biden plans to lay out high of more than 300,000
new steps to stem a rising last year amid a surge of fire-
national tide of violent arm sales. And several states
crime, with a particular have passed laws barring fed-
focus on gun violence, as eral gun control laws from
administration officials taking effect.
brace for what they fear
could be an especially tur- Louisville Metro Police
bulent summer. Chief Erika Shields said lax
gun laws and the presence of
The worry over crime is real: illegal guns on the streets are
It has created economic hard- compounding the violence.
ship, displacement and anxi-
ety. But there are also tricky “When everyone can have a
politics at play. The spike gun, they tend to,” she said.
in crime has become a Re- “And it just leads to more il-
publican talking point and legal guns on the street.”
has been a frequent topic of
conversation on conservative The Justice Department re-
media. cently announced a sweeping
investigation into the Louis-
White House aides believe ville police over the March
that Biden, with his long leg- 2020 death of Breonna Tay-
islative record on crime as a lor, who was shot to death
former senator, is not easy to pulpit but also using levers at foundly troubling trends.” Oregon; Baltimore; Baton by police during a raid at her
paint as soft on the issue, and his disposal as president.” Rouge, Louisiana; and Hous- home. A similar investigation
the president has been clear Monaco said the Justice De- ton — violent crime overall was launched into the Min-
that he is opposed to the “de- In April, Biden announced partment would launch strike remains lower than it was a neapolis police force.
fund the police” movement, a half-dozen executive ac- forces in Chicago, New York, decade ago or even five years
which has been effectively tions on gun control, includ- Los Angeles, San Francisco ago. And most violent crimes The rise in violence comes
used against other Democrats ing cracking down on “ghost and Washington, D.C., to plummeted during the first against the backdrop of a na-
to paint them as anti-law en- guns,” homemade firearms help reduce violent crime by six months of the pandemic, tional debate on policing and
forcement. But Biden also is that lack serial numbers used addressing illegal gun traf- as people stayed indoors and as a police reform bill is being
trying to boost progressives’ to trace them and that are ficking, building on an initia- away from others. crafted in Congress. Psaki on
efforts to reform policing. often purchased without a tive begun last month. Tuesday dismissed sugges-
And while combating crime background check. Crime started creeping up tions that a presidential event
and reforming the police If the federal effort sounds last summer, a trend crimi- focused on cracking down on
don’t have to be at odds with There is also new federal familiar, it is. Federal op- nologists say is hard to define crime would undermine that
each other, the two efforts are funding from the $1.9 tril- erations have often been and is likely due to a variety legislative effort.
increasingly billed that way. lion COVID-19 relief pack- launched to help cities fac- of factors such as historic un-
age directed toward munici- ing spiking crime. President employment, fear over the As a senator, Biden wrote sev-
In a speech on Wednesday, pal governments, allowing Donald Trump announced virus and mass anger over eral major anti-crime packag-
Biden is to unveil a series of them to keep more police of- something similar last year stay-at-home orders. Pub- es, including a 1994 bill that
executive orders aimed at re- ficers on the street. Aides said when he and then-Attor- lic mass shootings have also contained provisions now
ducing violence, and he will Biden would also urge a swift ney General William Barr made an alarming return. viewed by some as an overre-
renew his calls for Congress confirmation of his choice to launched Operation Legend, action to the crime spikes in
to pass gun legislation, aides head the Bureau of Alcohol, named for a boy who was “Many of us — if not most the 1980s and 1990s. Critics
said. Ahead of the speech, Tobacco, Firearms and Ex- shot to death in Kansas City, of us — are seeing a rise in say those bills helped lead to
the Justice Department an- plosives. Missouri. In that effort, hun- crime, while at the same mass incarceration of Black
nounced new strike forces dreds of investigators were time, we’re hearing calls for Americans, and Biden’s in-
aimed at tackling gun traf- But Biden is limited in his deployed to nine cities with reform,” Baltimore Police volvement became a flash-
ficking in five cities. power to act alone. The rising crime, prioritizing the Commissioner Michael Har- point in his 2020 campaign.
House passed two bills re- arrest of violent criminals. rison said of cities in remarks
The White House also quiring background checks Trump, though, laid blame at the police forum. “And Biden has expressed second
planned to convene a meet- on all firearms sales and for the spike in crime on pro- some of those calls are to the thoughts about some aspects
ing Wednesday of a bipartisan transfers and allowing an testers who demonstrated extreme of dismantle and de- of the legislation, and he has
group of mayors, members expanded 10-day review for against police brutality fol- fund ... while all of the same acknowledged its harmful
of the law enforcement com- gun purchases. But that legis- lowing the killing of George time we’re sworn to protect impact on many Black Amer-
munity, experts and commu- lation faces strong headwinds Floyd in Minneapolis. He the people.” icans. But he and his allies
nity activists. White House in the Senate, where some claimed that Democrats were still hold out the law’s pro-
staff members have also been Republican support would be allowing crime to run amok Interest in guns, too, is on the visions to address domestic
in touch with legislators and needed for passage. in their cities. But despite rise. The number of people violence, ban assault weap-
congressional staff. pockets of violence in both stopped from buying guns ons and finance community
Deputy Attorney General Democratic- and Republi- through the U.S. background policing.
“Yes, there need to be reforms Lisa Monaco said Tuesday can-run cities, the protests
of police systems across the that she has seen double-digit were mostly peaceful. A Har-
country. The president is a increases in murder and vio- vard Radcliffe Institute study
firm believer in that,” White lent crime nationwide. found there were no injuries
House press secretary Jen reported in 97% of the events.
Psaki said Tuesday. “But “It is staggering. It is sober- Still, Republican leaders con-
there are also steps he can ing,” she said at a violent- tinue to echo Trump’s claims.
take as president of the Unit- crime forum held by the
ed States to help address and Washington-based Police And while crime is rising —
hopefully reduce that crime. Executive Research Forum. homicides and shootings are
A big part of that, in his view, “And it’s something that DOJ up from the same period last
is putting in place gun safety is committed to do all we year in Chicago; Los Ange-
measures ... using the bully can to reverse what are pro- les; Minneapolis; Portland,