In House floor remarks on Thursday, Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) called out President Joe Biden for insisting in a CNN Town Hall with host Don Lemon a week ago that “crime is down” even as murder rates rise.
The current rise in violent crime has been broadly acknowledged by an array of journalistic and academic observers, and even by liberal outlets like The Atlantic Monthly.
Rose called attention to murders having risen by 533 percent in Portland, 50 percent in Minneapolis, 35 percent in Philadelphia, and 24 percent in Los Angeles compared to those cities’ rates a year ago. He also cited a 91-percent rise in anti-police ambushes over the past year.
“Right now, American families are being forced to face an explosion of violent crime in their streets and their neighborhoods,” he said. “After the riots of the past year, which saw the destruction of both public and private property, and as we undergo one of the worst crime waves in modern history, citizens are deservedly concerned about their safety and well-being.”
Rose called for more robust support for law enforcement in response to the surge in violence.
“When Democrats defund the police,” he said, “lawlessness is guaranteed to follow, complete with more crimes of all kinds including murder. Left unchecked, such lawlessness will eventually destroy our Republic.”
The congressman has also been vocal in support of Americans’ right to bear arms to enhance public safety. He is among the signatories to an amicus brief authored by Representative Claudia Tenney (R-NY-22) urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the right of legal firearm owners to conceal carry.
– – –
Bradley Vasoli is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
