We get it. Times are tough. Biden's run up inflation like a drunk's bar tab. So covering that Christmas list might have been a little more difficult this year.
But have you tried just smashing in a window and like, stealing stuff?
No? Congrats on being a decent person who knows that taking things without paying for them is wrong. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for a growing number of jackholes across the country, who've taken shoplifting to a whole new level. Smash-and-grab looting was all the rage this holiday season, with cities across the country seeing shocking levels of brazen theft that left busted glass, broken doors, and frustrated retailers in their wake.
A GameStop in Jacksonville, Florida is now boarded up after a group of criminals used their car as a battering ram to bust into the building through the wall, making off moments later with armloads of stolen merch and leaving the store a total wreck this past week. In Shoreline, Washington, three people broke into a pot store and took off with an unknown amount of stolen goods on Monday night.
Just before Christmas, five thieves busted into a Chanel store in Washington, D.C., nabbing $250,000 worth of stuff and discharging a fire extinguisher. In Oahu, Hawaii, a string of smash-and-grabs targeted local restaurants just before New Years'. In Saratoga, New York, residents spent part of their holiday helping rebuild a local store after thieves busted in through the window and made off with $100k worth of designer handbags and other merchandise in early December.
Just befor Christmas, cell phone footage caught the moment when three criminals busted through the window of a jewelry store in a Fairfield, California mall, right in front of God and everyone.
Smash and grab at Sams Jewelry in California...#urban #CityLife #california #decay #crime @GavinNewsom pic.twitter.com/GwSVGRHImp
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) December 26, 2023
And those are just a scant few of the looting incidents that peppered the country around the holidays.
The rise of smash-and-grab incidents, which usually involve multiple people and often occurr in broad daylight even during busy shopping hours, has skyrocketed in recent years, largely thanks to left-wing policies that have eliminated cash bail, lowered the prosecution rate for criminals accused of “non-violent” crimes, and stripped local police departments of funding and manpower. While lower-level shoplifting rates have fallen in some cities, the percentage of shoplifting crimes listed as felonies increased from 6.6% in January of 2019 to 15.1% in January of 2023. Some reports have cited organized crime as the primary driver of marge-scale smash-and-grab incidents, like last August when more than 30 thugs were caught on camera rushing out of a Glendale, California mall with an estimated $300,000 worth of stolen merchandise. Others stem from mob-like takeovers and riots, such as when at least 50 people looted a 7-11 following an illegal sideshow in Sacramento in October.
Now, cities are being forced to spend millions of taxpayer dollars fighting the rapid rise in retail theft, as businesses in many downtown areas close up shop in the face of overwhelming crime.
Gosh, if only somebody had seen this coming.
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