St. Louis, Missouri is a pretty rough town. Most people don’t think of it that way, but it is. Crime is skyrocketing in the city and local officials seem downright clueless on how to really address it. They’ve even gone in the insane direction of designating their parks as “child care facilities” so they could try and ban guns from there.
Unsurprisingly, that’s not exactly paying the dividends officials thought it would. Shocking, I know.
Recently, a young child was shot in the city. It’s a tragedy that is becoming all too common in places like St. Louis. Now, the mayor is calling for people to “put down the guns.”
Mayor Lyda Krewson released a statement Monday afternoon:
“It’s maddening and hideous that anyone would open fire on a car with children inside. My heart simply breaks for these kids. I don’t know what I can possibly say to change this horrific outcome. It reinforces our need as a City to come together to continue addressing public safety, which remains my number one priority. I’m thankful to the hardworking law enforcement officers who are committed to finding the person responsible and bringing them to justice, and I extend my gratitude to the community members who share our calls for peace. It’s time to put the guns down.”
Oh, well, that should do it.
I mean, gangbangers are well-known for following instructions from political officials in their local government, right?
Cities like St. Louis do have a problem. There’s no denying that. Even one incident where I child is hurt is a problem. Clearly, though, his is beyond that and something needs to be done.
But what has Krewson done? What has she actually done to address this problem?
Oh, they designate parks as child care facilities and call for more gun control laws, but there are things a city the size of St. Louis can likely do without the state or federal government’s involvement.
The truth of the matter is that crime is usually centered on a handful of neighborhoods. Either the perpetrators or the victims are from those neighborhoods. This is true of every city in the nation, too. We all know the areas in our towns that you don’t want to go hang around unless you’re looking for trouble.
You focus your attention on those neighborhoods rather than hitting everyone in the entire city, for one thing.
Plus, there’s apparently a lot of things you can do to reduce violent crime without infringing on the rights of a single living soul. Not only that, but they’re things that don’t exactly disagree with Krewson’s politics either. After all, one of the leading proponents of that approach was part of Obama’s administration.
Look, I don’t love spending tax dollars on stuff like any of this, but I’d rather spend it there than see our individual rights infringed upon because people like Krewson and her ilk can’t seem to figure out how to keep people in their cities in line. Small towns, even those with rampant poverty, don’t tend to have this kind of issue. That’s reserved for larger cities.
But saying “put the guns down” is nothing more than an anti-gun Democrat trying to shift the blame to the tool and not the tool using it. More than that, though, it’s someone who only knows how to offer platitudes rather than address the real problems facing the city.
