A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed that Americans know the President Donald Trump-led Republican Party has a better plan than their Democratic Party opponents on crime and gun control. Conducted September 19-21, pollsters found that U.S. adults preferred the GOP approach to crime by a whopping 20 points. In fact, the number of respondents that preferred Republicans’ crime plan was double that of those who endorsed the Democrats’ approach. On gun control, Trump’s party enjoys a four-point lead.
The National Rifle Association is nonpartisan. Further, there are more and less sensible members of both political parties. Consider that as recently as 2010, NRA endorsed 63 Democrats for Congress. As Second Amendment Attorney and Scholar David Kopel pointed out at the time, 81 House Democrats and 19 Senate Democrats signed onto an amicus brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court case McDonald v. Chicago supporting incorporation of the individual rights interpretation of the Second Amendment to the states.
However, broadly speaking, the national Republican and Democratic parties have been drifting further away from each other on crime and gun control in recent years.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has demonstrated that tackling violent crime through vigorous law enforcement is an administration priority. To this end, the president has deployed federal resources in the District of Columbia and elsewhere to liberate Americans from the scourge of violent crime enabled by feckless local officials.
President Trump’s 2024 Make America Great Again! GOP Platform made clear that the party would,
DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION, OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, AND OUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF RELIGION, AND THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS
Since taking office, the Department of Justice has repeatedly made good on this promise.
The Democrats’ 2024 standard bearer, Kamala Harris, praised the “defund the police” movement in 2020. Moreover, Harris has endorsed gun confiscation and contended that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right to keep and bear arms.
The 2024 Democratic Party Platform called for all manner of gun control and made no mention of the Second Amendment.
With this level of contrast, Reuters respondents probably had a good Idea of what they were endorsing. And are the results any wonder? In recent weeks Americans have been subjected to shocking news reports demonstrating just how useless many jurisdictions are in confronting violent criminals.
In August there was the revolting criminal attack that took the life of Iryna Zarutska on a public train in Charlotte, North Carolina. The suspect had a lengthy criminal history.
A report from USA Today noted that the 34-year-old suspect “had at least 14 separate cases in the criminal court system in” Mecklenburg County, N.C. The paper explained that over the years the suspect had been convicted of shoplifting, larceny, and breaking and entering. In another incident, the suspect “pulled a gun on a man in the middle of the day at a Charlotte apartment complex and robbed him of his cellphone and $450.” More recently, the suspect had run-ins with the authorities due to a mental health crisis. Despite this ample criminal history, and other alarming conduct, local officials failed to incapacitate the suspect in a manner sufficient to protect Zarutska.
Then there is the story of Logan Hailey Frederico, who was allegedly murdered by a career criminal during a home invasion in Columbia, South Carolina in May. The suspect in the case has an almost unfathomable criminal history.
A Fox News item reported that the suspect had “39 arrests and 25 felony charges before Logan’s murder.” Detailing the suspect’s lengthy rap sheet, the Columbia, S.C. Post and Courier noted,
[the suspect] has amassed dozens of felony and misdemeanor charges in Lexington, Richland and McCormick counties, according to his criminal history report maintained by the S.C. Law Enforcement Division.
…
Every year since he became an adult, as long as he was out in the community, he got arrested, sometimes multiple times in one year. Many of his charges related to break-ins and thefts, though some involved violence, such as robberies.
…
He had been sentenced to probation again and again — and violated probation multiple times, according to his criminal record. Some of his charges were dismissed under what appeared to be plea agreements.
On September 29, Logan’s father, Stephen Frederico, gave gripping testimony before a North Carolina House Judiciary Committee on the victims of crime that was convened in response to the Zarutska killing. Frederico pulled no punches in blaming the pathetic officials who failed to incapacitate his daughter’s alleged killer.
With many jurisdictions governed by local officials unable or unwilling to vigorously prosecute and incapacitate violent criminals to protect the public, it’s no surprise that the Trump and GOP approach to violent crime resonates with Americans. Neither is it surprising on the gun rights front. When the state has abdicated its duty to protect the innocent from violent predators, the law-abiding must have access to the means with which to provide for the security of themselves and their loved ones.
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