America has a violence problem. And it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
Late last month, on April 22, a gunman in Washington, D.C., opened fire at a college prep school from across the street, riddling it with more than 200 bullets and wounding four people. A mall shooting in South Carolina that same week wounded 10. A shooting on a Brooklyn subway earlier that month wounded over a dozen. New Orleans recently reported its bloodiest weekend in nearly 10 years.
Overall, recent data shows that the U.S. experienced its largest-ever recorded annual increase in homicides in 2020, compared to 2019, according to statistics from the FBI. The homicide rate rose nearly 30% in 2020 and increased again by 5% in 2021. Violent crimes such as mass shootings and assaults have also increased since 2019.
The pandemic is taking a toll on Americans
In interviews with Yahoo News, several experts attributed the spike in violence to three factors. They say the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted all aspects of life, forcing nationwide lockdowns that led to increased stress and anxiety among the population.
Dr. Howard Kurtz, professor of sociology and criminal justice at Southwest Oklahoma State University, believes that as people were locked away from the outside world, violence and frustration ensued.
“There was this plague mentality that has to take a toll on people,” Kurtz told Yahoo News. “Then you start seeing increases in violent crime with a lack of social interaction.”
While COVID cases have plunged in the past few months and most lockdowns have ended, new variants and continued mask restrictions are still disrupting everyday life. Two years after lockdowns began, people still cannot agree on mask guidance, and many are reaching their breaking point, Kurtz argued.
5 seconds Mr Marsh
Stop.
Stop that “it’s Covid!” BS..
It’s DEMOCRATS and democrat Attorney’s General, telling gangsters and punk-ass bitc** that they won’t arrest them and if they do, won’t prosecute them.
Because it’s racist to charge black people who assault anyone within fighting distance, or people who throw fireworks and brick at the police, or people who roams subways and trains looking for someone to beat and rob.
Defund the police??
Thank you democrats.
It ain’t getting any better, people. No way.
We are in the middle of the breakdown of American values and society.
You are already seeing regular citizens begin to take the law into their own hands, because they can’t count on democrats to do the ONE thing they should PRIORITIZE — the security of “We , the People”.
If you don’t carry a weapon, preferably a gun, then you are naive and borderline stupid.
No one is going to warn you they are going to carjack you at a traffic light or rob you in the parking lot.
And democrats do their VERY BEST to make sure you are helpless against thugs.
Your kids go to public schools??
They are constantly — CONSTANTLY — in danger of black and Latino wanna-be gangsters beating your kid.
Teacher can’t stop them. The administrators are afraid of them.
ALL criminals are getting a pass.
Thanks democrats.
You are stoking revolution.
Great job!
DEMOCRAT Party !!! ( All the cause )
The spike in violence is due to the fact that they know they will go before a liberal, bleeding heart judge, who will slap their wrists and turn them loose. When there are no consequences for breaking the law, then there is no deterrent. Why not do as you please if you don’t have to be accountable for any of your actions?