Associated Press
Facing a nationwide increase in violent crime — particularly involving firearms — President Joe Biden will meet Monday with law enforcement, local elected officials and advocates to discuss his efforts to address gun crimes.
The White House says Biden will highlight his administration’s push to increase funding for local law enforcement to improve community policing practices through the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill he signed into law earlier this year. Some states and local governments are also using funding from that so-called American Rescue Plan to fund youth employment programs and other measures that could help curtail crime.
The meeting comes as Biden has sought to flip the script on Republicans who have latched onto some progressive calls to “defund the police” amid a nationwide reckoning over police shootings of Black people. Biden has opposed “defund” efforts and instead has called on lawmakers to pass legislation aimed at reforming police departments, though that effort faces an uphill battle in Congress.
While the GOP has attacked Biden over rising crime, the White House is arguing that Republicans, who voted in lockstep against the COVID-19 relief bill, are the ones who tried to block increased funding for police.
Biden’s budget request to Congress also calls for more funding for federal and state law enforcement, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to improve that agency’s ability to track and disrupt gun trafficking.
South Florida was hit with a wave of gun violence around Memorial Day weekend earlier this year. That prompted state Sen. Shevrin Jones to ask President Biden to visit the region to meet with the families and address the uptick in attacks.
“Even before the pandemic, the first warm-weather long weekend of the year was often a deadly one when it came to gun violence in South Florida and U.S. cities across the nation,” Jones wrote in a letter to the President.
“And with violence remaining at higher levels nationally than it was prior to COVID-19, many cities are bracing themselves for what the coming weekends may bring.”
___
Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
2 comments
zhombre
July 10, 2021 at 9:44 am
Gun ownership is widespread in the U.S. and the vast majority of gun owners are law-abiding and mentally stable. Gun violence is primarily an urban problem fueled by black criminality, i.e., gangs and drugs. This issue won’t be addressed because, well, racism. Don’t you know it’s all the fault of guns, systemic racism and white supremacy.
Cinforoso
July 11, 2021 at 9:34 pm
Just how stupid is the Defund the Police movement? Anyone who says that is either mentally deranged or a Democrat. Democrats want us scared, poor, dependent, and miserable. They destroy every city and state they control. If you can’t see that, you are blind.
Comments are closed.