CNN Blames Too Many Guns for Increase in Murder

bradwilmouth | May 11, 2022
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As CNN host Don Lemon devoted a segment to a CDC study on the surge in shooting deaths in 2020, the show predictably played up the liberal view on why the increase in violent crime happened while ignoring the role of liberal policies in reversing the previous decades of crime dropping.

Ignoring the fact that the surge in homicides began as left-wing ant-police activists reacted to the police-involved death of George Floyd, Lemon started off by blaming the pandemic: "So this is a concerning story. The CDC saying the United States has recorded the highest rate of gun-related deaths in a quarter century, and the pandemic likely is a big factor in pushing up the number of murders and suicides where guns were used."

Lemon began by asking one of his guests, Roseanna Ander of the University of Chicago, why the surge in shooting deaths happened, leading her to argue that the pandemic and George Floyd's death poured gasoline on the fire if there already being 400 million guns in the country:

So we were not starting in a good place, and then you take a once in a century pandemic and then, combined with a lot of crisis of legitimacy of government following the murder of George Floyd and really sort of contributed to really pulling the rug out from underneath many, many communities, and, unfortunately, in a country with 400 million guns in circulation, that's sort of fuel to the fire.

Lemon soon turned to his other guest, former NYPD detective Darrin Porcher, who also teaches at Pace University. Porcher tied in a loss of services for "socioeconomically impoverished communities" during the pandemic, and then made vague claims that police need to do a better job of "interdicting" to stop gun crimes before they happen.

Even though Porcher has a history in other forums of implicating liberal bail reform policies that have led to lower prosecution rates for gun crimes, he did not bring up the issue this time for some reason. In fact, he soon suggested that he was against jailing more criminals: "I'm a huge proponent in not locking people up for being in the possession of guns if we get to it before the crime is committed."

He later added: "I'm a firm proponent in we can't arrest our way out of a situation, but when we look at all of these different components, that's what exasperated and causes manifestation in gun violence."

Picking up on Ander pointing out gun availability in the U.S. being greater than other countries, Lemon and Porcher soon followed up:

LEMON: She brings up a very good point, Darrin. I mean, other countries -- the whole world went through this pandemic -- the United States seems to be the one that suffered the most, especially when it comes to gun-related deaths. Is that because of -- as she mentioned -- as Roseanna mentioned -- the proliferation of guns in America and on our streets?

PORCHER: That's a huge part of it. We have more guns in America than human beings. we have 360 million human beings in the United States, but we have over 400 million guns in this country. That's a problem, but, in addition to that, the real issue is the distrust between police and the communities of color.

But the Washington Examiner has documented that the surge in homicides occurred immediately after the national news media gave massive attention to George Floyd's police-involved death, and encouraged left-wing activists to protest, which has also been dubbed the "Minnesota effect," similar to the "Ferguson effect" surge in murders that happened in 2015 after the media began nationalizing the issue of police-involved violence promoting one case after another.

Between 1991 and 2014, the number of homicides in the U.S. dropped from 24,700 a year down to 14,164, the lowest since the late 1960s, before starting to trend upward for a couple of years. In 2020, there was another surge that began in late May, bringing the number to 21,570 for the year.

 

 

 

CNN's Don Lemon Tonight

May 10, 2022

11:40 p.m. Eastern

DON LEMON: So this is a concerning story. The CDC saying the United States has recorded the highest rate of gun-related deaths in a quarter century, and the pandemic likely is a big factor in pushing up the number of murders and suicides where guns were used.

So let's discuss now. Darrin Porcher is a former New York City police officer, and Roseanna Ander is the executive director of the University of Chicago crime lab and education lab. Thank you both for joining us. Roseanna, I'm going to start with you. This is terrible news. A record number of gun deaths in 2020 -- 35 percent increase in homicides from 2019 to 2020. I mean, this was the first year of the pandemic. What happened to cause this surge?

ROSEANNA ANDER, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO CRIME LAB AND EDUCATION LAB: Well, unfortunately, even before the pandemic, the United States really had an unconscionably high rate of gun violence if you compare us to any other so-called, you know, industrialized or developed countries. So we were not starting in a good place, and then you take a once in a century pandemic and then, combined with a lot of crisis of legitimacy of government following the murder of George Floyd and really sort of contributed to really pulling the rug out from underneath many, many communities, and, unfortunately, in a country with 400 million guns in circulation, that's sort of fuel to the fire. So it's unfortunate and very tragic and preventable.

LEMON: Darrin, I want to hear what you have to say about this. What are the big factors, do you think, causing this?

DARRIN PORCHER, FORMER NYPD OFFICER: Well, the pandemic was huge. And whenever we have issues such as a pandemic, the socioeconomically impoverished communities suffer the most because they have the least amount of services. But I also believe the police need  to change the trajectory in how they interdict gun violence in the communities of color. Often times, you look at it from a statistical perspective, but we need a more qualitative perspective. We need to look at what is the cause -- what is the policing community relationship that's driving their neighborhood in connection with this gun violence? A battle that's won is a war that was never fought. And so if we can interdict it early, we won't have the gun violence. I'm a huge proponent in not locking people up for being in the possession of guns if we get to it before the crime is committed.

LEMON: I think people are wondering, "How do you link the pandemic with gun violence?" Because that's what this study is doing. Can either of you answer that?

PORCHER: Yeah, a lot of it has to do with essential services had a moratorium placed on them based on the pandemic. So when you have these socioeconomically impoverished communities, they just didn't have certain things. In addition to that, police were stretched super thin dealing with other things. I'm a firm proponent in we can't arrest our way out of a situation, but when we look at all of these different components, that's what exasperated and causes manifestation in gun violence.

LEMON: Roseanna, I want you to weigh in on this on that question, but when we've already been through so much as a country -- so much anger and outrage -- I mean, you talk about the road rage and all the people fighting on airplane. is our ability to have civilized, considerate interactions with each other in public spaces permanently damaged? Is that part of the problem?

ANDER: Well, certainly one would hope not. It certainly doesn't have to be that way. I do want to sort of acknowledge that the whole world went through the pandemic -- only the United States is suffering this rate of gun violence, so I think the pandemic certainly added a lot of stress into communities and the mental health impacts that it had. The CDC has been putting out a number of different reports that are just each and every one of them heartbreaking and really need to get out galvanized around how we can change this trajectory. The increase in gun violence that we experienced in the United States , I think the pandemic really did stress out the under-resourced communities. At the same time, we pulled the rug out from underneath these very same communities.

And it's not as though we had a robust social safety net to begin with before the pandemic, but what little was there got really torn away at the same time that we really saw this crisis of legitimacy in policing. And the little trust that communities did have got torn away altogether. So when you add all of those things together, you really -- you see this sort of unfortunate outcomes that we're experiencing now. And, you know, there are things that can be done. It doesn't have to be this way.

I think there's tremendous promise in investing in those very same communities but in ways that are very targeted and data-driven so that we are focusing the resources of where they can do the most good, both in terms of community responses to prevent and reduce the violence, but also to improving the quality and fairness and effectiveness of policing. It's a both-and and not an either-or, and sort of pointed to this level of discourse that we're having right now. And I think unfortunately we're sort of pitting one against the other as an either-or, and I think really that these communities and our country need it to be a both-and. And I think that there are, you know, I think if people have hope -- if people see opportunities and a future, I think that they, you know, can engage much more constructively in their communities.

LEMON: She brings up a very good point, Darrin. I mean, other countries -- the whole world went through this pandemic -- the United States seems to be the one that suffered the most, especially when it comes to gun-related deaths. Is that because of -- as she mentioned -- as Roseanna mentioned -- the proliferation of guns in America and on our streets?

PORCHER: That's a huge part of it. We have more guns in America than human beings. we have 360 million human beings in the United States, but we have over 400 million guns in this country. That's a problem, but, in addition to that, the real issue is the distrust between police and the communities of color. Somehow we need to mend the fences. And that's where that qualitative piece comes in, which is essential when you have that cooperation between the police and the community, then you'll be able to effectively interdict a lot of the gun violence that occurs in these communities. If the members in the community can join and provide law enforcement with that necessary intelligence, then we'll be more willing and able to eradicate the gun violence that's plaguing these communities of color.

LEMON: Darrin, thank you -- Roseanna, thank you both very much. I appreciate it.

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