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   From: atropos@mac.com   
      
   https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3274797-we-have-a-murder-problem-in-   
   america-especially-in-red-states/   
      
   For the last two years, the nation has been awash in news accounts about   
   soaring violent crime and murder in cities and states run by Democrats.   
   That narrative is ubiquitous, particularly in conservative media, where   
   Democratic mayors are routinely called out and excoriated for turning a   
   blind eye to crime. That story is half right and half — to be charitable —   
   lazy and wrong.   
      
   Let’s dispatch with the part that is correct. We have a murder problem in   
   America, with homicides up sharply in recent years reversing long-term   
   trends. In addition, many cities with Democratic mayors and governors have   
   experienced dramatic murder spikes.   
      
      
   Now, for the rest of the story. In a report Third Way recently released, we   
   found that murder was much more prevalent in red states than blue states.   
   That’s right. In 2020, homicide rates were a stunning 40 percent higher in   
   the 25 states that former President Donald Trump won compared to the 25 won   
   by current President Joe Biden. Of the 10 states with the highest 2020 per   
   capita murder rates in America, eight of them not only voted for Trump in   
   2016 and 2020, they voted Republican in every presidential election this   
   century.   
      
   Mississippi — a state that neither conjures up weak on crime images nor   
   Democratic officeholders — topped the charts with a 2020 murder rate twice   
   that of blue Illinois, thrice that of bluer California, and four times that   
   of bluest New York. The red states of Louisiana, Kentucky, Alabama and   
   Missouri rounded out the top five and each had murder rates at least six   
   times Massachusetts, four times New Jersey and just shy of twice that of   
   Michigan. These blue states are home to the “crime-is-out-of-control”   
   cities you read about daily — Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Boston,   
   Newark and Detroit. They generate the headlines, the outrage and the   
   political backlash.   
      
   Yet, media coverage is essentially mum about Lexington, Kentucky, which has   
   set back-to-back murder records, has a homicide rate twice that of New York   
   City and has a Republican mayor. Tulsa and Oklahoma City have Republican   
   mayors, a Republican governor and murder rates that dwarf that of Los   
   Angeles. Jacksonville was the murder capital of Florida in 2020 with its   
   Republican mayor, governor and a stratospheric homicide rate that if it   
   were matched in New York City would’ve added more than 1,000 murders that   
   year.   
      
   And to top it off, the homicide rate in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.)   
   San Francisco was half that of House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-   
   Calif.) Bakersfield, the largest city in Kern County and one with a   
   Republican mayor — with overwhelming Trump support and not a whiff of   
   flirtation with defund the police movements. In fact, the murder capital of   
   California for six years running is sleepy Kern County, 130 miles from Los   
   Angeles and 306 miles from San Francisco, the two California locales most   
   often associated with the crime-is-out-of-control national headlines that   
   have dominated U.S. crime  and political coverage.   
      
   The causes for crime and murder are complicated and intersectional and so   
   is its relationship to political party. Since four out of five murders are   
   by firearms, higher homicide rates tend to be in places with extensive gun   
   ownership. Meanwhile, firearms purchases have exploded with Americans   
   purchasing an unprecedented 80 million guns in the last two years. Add to   
   that gun owning households are twice as likely to be Republicans. Taken   
   together, this could conceivably explain some of the bias toward more   
   lethal crime in red states.   
      
   Mostly, however, crime is ripe for another type of bias: toward   
   demagoguery. The Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown   
   Jackson were punctuated with GOP attacks labeling her soft on crime despite   
   endorsements from the Fraternal Order of Police and nation’s police chiefs.   
   Ironically, some of the most outrageous attacks came from Sens. Tom Cotton   
   (R-Ark.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who represent states with murder rates   
   among the worst in the nation.   
      
   This underscores that there is rarely a national crime discussion in   
   America that is civil, inquisitive and holistic. And that is what makes the   
   media slant that focuses almost exclusively on urban blue state crime as   
   inexplicable and frustrating as it is lazy and off.   
      
   If the yardstick is homicide, Republicans do a far better job of talking   
   about stopping crime than actually stopping it — and it seems much of the   
   press seems to buy it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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