All around us, we see plenty of evidence that violent crime is up. Among that evidence is such trivial data as the actual homicide rate.

Silly things, really.

Yet, Juan Williams would have you believe that there’s really no issue with crime that’s not the GOP’s fault.

Republicans are ready to use the nationwide rise in violent crime against Democrats in the midterm elections.

That’s odd.

Yes, the murder rate is up.

But seven of the ten states with the highest murder rates voted for former President Trump in 2020.

Most of those murders involved guns and took place in southern states with lax gun control laws enacted by Republican governors and legislatures.

So, how can Democrats be attacked as the party responsible for the rise in crime?

Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that Democrats have been taking a soft-on-crime approach for the last couple of years, one so soft it’s only just shy of actually installing revolving doors on jail cells?

Or how about the fact that while Williams may be right on the state level, but when you break it down to the local level, the highest murder rates are found on counties that voted overwhelmingly for Biden?

“But guns!!!” Williams cried.

That would actually make a valid point except that it doesn’t.

We’ve long known that the vast majority of guns obtained by criminals aren’t through lawful means. They’re not generally buying from law-abiding citizens conducting an otherwise lawful face-to-face transfer. Those are often too risky.

No, they’re either stealing them, buying them via the black market after someone else stole them, or via a straw purchase. The first two are the preferred method, of course, but straw purchases can and do take place.

All of these are, of course, illegal. In other words, these are the actions of criminals, so why should anyone support new laws that only impose a burden on law-abiding citizens simply because the previous laws that only impose a burden on law-abiding citizens failed to do their jobs?

Those same laws that many prosecutors in Democratic cities are opting not to prosecute people for breaking, it should be noted.

Of course, no one is surprised that Williams is pushing this tired line. He’s pushing a narrative that Democrats want to be pushed ahead of the midterms and he’s sincerely hoping that voters won’t see the pushback.

Look, the Republican Party has plenty of issues. Tons of them, in fact.

However, I don’t reasonably see how you can lay all of this at their feet when Democrats are doing everything but providing an Uber service to and from crime scenes for criminals who don’t have transportation.

And I halfway expect that to pop up any day now.

You don’t get to be soft on crime as a party, then try and blame the other side when your policies backfire spectacularly.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That’s never been a matter of dispute. What they’re not entitled to are their own facts.