For those like me who are lucky enough to live in small-town USA, crime is pretty much unheard of – at least on any serious level. Where I live and work, our cars and homes are rarely locked, our streets are clean, and our kids aren’t afraid to walk to school. We are blessed, to say the least.
However, the same can definitely not be said for those who live in larger and more liberal-run cities.
Take New York City, for example, where crime seems to run the streets. Here, everything is locked up tight, even while residents are home. And it’s not just adults who are at risk.
In fact, many of the city’s children often travel to school armed with at least one weapon. Mind you, I’m not talking about a few delinquents out to cause problems with these weapons. No, these are elementary and middle school students who are so afraid to walk through various neighborhoods that they feel the need to protect themselves.
And, according to New York City Education Department security director Mark Rampersant, it’s not just in a few schools or neighborhoods either. It’s far more widespread than that. He told the Daily News, “What we see happening with our young people is indicative of what’s happening in the city as a whole. They don’t feel safe as they transition through multiple communities traveling to school.”
And so they arm themselves. Some choose guns, with eight having been found on a child’s person since July. Others prefer more traditionally “safety” weapons such as Tasers, pepper spray, and even brass knuckles.
According to NYPD, some 224 of these types of weapons have been seized so far this year in New York City schools. Only 52 were found in all of 2019. Overall, the Daily News reported some 787 weapons being found on school grounds and in possession of children since July 1. That’s a whopping 28 percent increase from both 2018 and 2019.
And according to crime records, they have good reason. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 124 minors have been shot in the city so far. That doesn’t even begin to count the number of minors who may have been stabbed, beaten, or attacked in other ways.
Can you imagine sending your child to school armed and dangerous because, without those weapons, your baby might not come home alive and well? It’s mind-boggling for someone like me. But, unfortunately, it’s a daily thought for mothers and fathers all over the nation in places like NYC.
Now, you might instinctively say that nothing about this is political. Instead, there’s just more people, and so there tends to be more crime. And to a certain degree, you’d be right.
But that’s not the whole picture, is it?
As you well know, since May of 2020, there have been calls made in places like NYC to defund or even abolish the police, claiming that the whole system is racist and evil. And while it certainly isn’t perfect and could use some ‘reform’ as they are calling it, cities like New York are learning fast that simply not having a police force, or an inadequately sourced one, is a very bad idea.
Just ask their liberal and soon-to-be-replaced mayor, Bill de Blasio.
In 2020, he and other liberal forces in the city pushed to defund the police by some $1 billion. In addition, he has created an atmosphere of distrust for law enforcement, constantly criticizing them and not backing them up, even when they are simply doing as he asked them to.
And as we can tell from the soaring crime rates, the city has become a much more dangerous place as a result.
It’s no wonder, then, that when it came time to choose a new leader for the Big Apple, New Yorkers chose someone like Eric Adams, a former police officer with a tough-on-crime agenda. Hopefully, he can restore the balance of good and evil in the city and give children there a reason to leave their weapons at home or to not have them at all.
