Thursday, March 28, 2024

Liberal Think Tank Recommends Dealing With ‘Root Causes’ – Not Guns – to Combat ‘Gun Violence’

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ANALYSIS – In the latest news on the ‘gun violence' front, a major liberal-leaning think tank report recommends numerous solutions to the ‘gun violence' surge plaguing our nation's capital.

And in a typically written news story, the reporter sees no irony in repeatedly using the liberal ‘gun violence' term even when none of the solutions being proposed have anything to do with guns. (RELATED: As Gun Sales Soared, the Number of Violent Crimes Committed With Guns Plummeted)

In the old days, it was simply called violence, or ‘shooting,' if you wanted to be more specific. Now it is ‘gun violence.' All part of the liberal campaign to weaponize language to achieve political goals.

In this case, gun control.

And when I first saw the online story, titled Criminal justice institute offers suggestions for curbing gun violence in DC, on local D.C. news site WTOP, I assumed it would be yet another gun control screed. (RELATED: Biden's ‘Guns First' Approach to Violent Crime Ignores Basic Facts)

And indeed, the reporter, and the think tank, tried their best to still make it sound as if the crisis of criminals and the mentally ill, using guns for violence is about the guns, by liberally (pun intended) sprinkling the term ‘gun violence' throughout.

As the first paragraph starts off:

Gun violence in the nation's capital continues to be a serious problem: Last year, D.C. surpassed 200 homicides for the first time in 17 years. And this year could be a repeat, with 65 homicides reported as of Monday, compared with 64 this time last year.

It then quotes the report, saying: “[D.C.] is lacking the political commitment, coordination, and a coherent strategy to reduce gun violence.”

However, the narrative soon goes off the rails when the story notes that:

Some [all?] of the recommendations focus on prevention and intervention, which involve data-driven approaches to finding and helping those who are at high risk of committing or becoming a victim of violent crimes.

And then it gets to the real point of what causes ‘gun violence.' And surprise – it is NOT guns. Instead, the story notes:

The institute also recommended a focus on the “root causes” of gun violence. Among younger residents who have run-ins with , some of the factors of concern include homelessness, removal from foster care, school suspensions, psychotic disorders and living in areas of high , known as “hot blocks.”

There is also a call for the District to set up a real-time incident review-and-response center, or a “Peace Room,” which would serve as an emergency operation center for gun violence.

The center would help with the sharing of intelligence, as well as with and community outreach information, and it would send outreach workers — in addition to first responders — to the scenes of shootings.

The institute also calls for weekly law enforcement meetings to review every shooting that occurred the week prior.

Of course, rather than focusing on more police, increased law enforcement funding, more proactive and more aggressive prosecutions, the story notes that the Institute recommends other typical liberal solutions, like life coaches and social workers:

The recommendations call for D.C. to hire and retain 62 life coaches, 50 violence interrupters and 20 outreach workers. Violence interrupters would respond to shootings to help a victim's family and provide crowd and rumor control; outreach workers would help high-risk people find and enroll in services; and life coaches would be teamed up with those people to help them develop both life and safety plans.

There is also a socialist recommendation for a “guaranteed income initiative” that would select 200 Black families who have children younger than 10 and household incomes below $50,000 and give them $750 monthly.

The stated goal of all these recommendations is to reduce homicides, non-fatal shootings and armed robberies involving guns by 10% per year.

While they continue to misleadingly call it ‘gun violence,' and many of the recommendations are overly focused on the liberal myth that violent crime is caused by poverty that can be resolved simply by throwing more taxpayer money, and social workers, at the poor, at least these groups are finally acknowledging the elephant in the room:

Guns don't cause ‘gun violence,' criminals and mentally ill people with guns do. At least that's a start.

READ NEXT: Biden Administration Pledges to Crack Down on Ghost Guns, Announces New ATF Nominee >>

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

Paul Crespo
Paul Crespohttps://paulcrespo.com/
Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Liberty Defense News. As a Marine Corps officer, he led Marines, served aboard ships in the Pacific and jumped from helicopters and airplanes. He was also a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide. He later ran for office, taught political science, wrote for a major newspaper and had his own radio show. A graduate of Georgetown, London and Cambridge universities, he brings decades of experience and insight to the issues that most threaten our American liberty – at home and from abroad.

1 COMMENT

  1. Why not address the “root cause” of abortion: the glorification of recreational sex!!
    Behaviors always have consequences. Bad behavior often creates victims.

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