To understand why violence is up nationwide requires an unbiased review of the actual facts.
Today’s violent crime rates are not what we saw in the 1990s, but the increases today are indeed concerning. Basically, it is hard to tell what drives crime trends, but the experts broadly agree on three main reasons. First, it is the pandemic. As people know, the pandemic has placed everyone under incredible pressure, but, in particular, it has placed disproportionate pressure on poor communities of color, precisely where community gun violence concentrates.
The second major cause is, in fact, guns. We saw record sales of guns in 2020, continuing to 2022. And, unfortunately, some recent ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] data shows that the — quote, unquote — "time to crime," meaning the time an illegally purchased gun needs to funnel through the gray and black markets into the hands of the criminal, has shortened considerably.