Based on what we see in the media, violent crime is becoming a very real problem once again. It’s all the media seems to be able to talk about and it’s a lot of what President Joe Biden seems to be able to focus on.

Well, sort of.

See, Biden is pushing the Anti-Second Amendment envelope as much as he can, but he doesn’t seem interested in doing much of anything about any other violent crime.

As Dr. John Lott, Jr. notes over at our sister site Townhall, that leaves an awful lot being ignored.

With violent crime increasing over the last year, Americans want a solution. Over and over, President Joe Biden frames violent crime as a gun problem. His presentation this month was no different. But the problem is much more far-reaching. Violent crime is rising across the board, and in 2019, 92% of it didn’t involve guns. Even just 2% of gun crimes end in murder. That has been virtually the same percentage for decades, and even if gun crime surged relative to all other violent crime it would still be a relatively small percentage.

…

Biden argues that lax gun control is responsible for the increase in violent crime. But why can’t someone in the White House press corps ask a simple question: “What change in gun control laws could possibly explain the increase in violent crime over the last year?” Why did violent crime increase now, rather than two or three or four years ago? I have written the White House Press Office, but received no response to this question.

In Biden’s three speeches on crime, he mentioned “gun” or “firearm” 148 times. The term “weapon,” sometimes in connection with “assault weapon,” is used another 21 times. By contrast, when not directly in context with guns, such as describing “gun violence,” the words “crime,” “violence,” or “violent” were mentioned about half as often — 89 times. And Biden was talking about violence generally, not just murder, which would make more sense in terms guns much more frequently involved in murders, but he only mentions the words “murder” or homicide just seven times in these three presentations and completely ignoring them in his most recent talk.

Yet, as Lott notes, 92 percent of all violent crimes don’t involve a firearm.

By focusing on guns, Biden is telling those victimized by criminals using anything other than a gun that they simply don’t matter. Had the perpetrator had a firearm, things would be different, but because you were mugged by someone using a hammer? Tough.

I’d love to say that’s not the message, but it is.

That’s because Biden and the Democrats typically don’t care about violent crime. What they care about is using any means necessary to destroy the Second Amendment as we know it. Sure, they’ll pay lip service about supporting it, but when his every action over the last 30 years has been to undermine it, he can forgive me for being skeptical.

Meanwhile, violent crime will continue to impact millions of lives, even if every gun vanished off the streets tomorrow.

If people want to get serious about violent crime, maybe it’s time to stop talking about the tool and start focusing on the tool using it. Maybe instead of pushing gun control, some of these folks would be willing to start looking at ways we can steer people away from a path that leads to violent crime in the first place.

Just a thought.