The Current Crime Wave Is Unlike Any Ever Experienced in America

This past week New Orleans reclaimed the title of America’s deadliest city after seeing murders jump 141% over the last couple of years. In New Orleans, the murder rate is a staggering 52 per 100,000 people. That compares to the national average of 6.9, the highest it’s been in a quarter century, and the 50 per 100,000 in Venezuela, the most dangerous country in the world.

If New Orleans were an outlier, it would be a shame; the fact that it’s not is a tragedy. Instead, New York, Chicago, Portland, LA, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and other American cities are part of the club. Crime has been up across America over the last two years, in most cases dramatically.

We’ve always had crime in America—such is the price of freedom—but what we are experiencing today is something altogether different. It’s not just crime. America can sometimes be a dangerous place. Everyone knows working the midnight shift at a convenience store is riskier than working the day shift at your local library, just as common sense tells you the odds of getting into a fight in a bar on a Saturday night are far higher than at church on Sunday morning.

And to be clear, this is not Antifa thugs and BLM cultists burning down cities. Protest, even violent protest, has been part of American history since its founding and is mainly event-driven, like Shay’s Rebellion, the Vietnam War protests, the riots after MLK’s assassination, or the acquittal of the police in the Rodney King video.

No, this is something different. It’s one thing to rage against the machine; it’s another to commit violence against citizens, particularly when they are unsuspecting innocents or compliant victims. This is today’s issue, which we see taking place across the county, from urban jungles like New York City to Midwestern communities like Salt Lake City.

More