The Patriot Post® · Chiefs Super Bowl Parade Shattered by Urban Violence
Joe Biden couldn’t be bothered with the traditional fluff interview during Sunday’s Super Bowl, but he sure wasn’t going to sit on the sidelines after a shooting broke out at the conclusion of the Kansas City Chiefs victory parade Wednesday.
Not long after 22 people were shot and one killed as the parade festivities were winding down, Biden put out a statement. It began well enough:
The Super Bowl is the most unifying event in America. Nothing brings more of us together. And the celebration of a Super Bowl win is a moment that brings a joy that can’t be matched to the winning team and their supporters. For this joy to be turned to tragedy today in Kansas City cuts deep in the American soul.
Today’s events should move us, shock us, shame us into acting. What are we waiting for? What else do we need to see? How many more families need to be torn apart?
We couldn’t agree more. But then he went into the predictable leftist agenda that puts all the blame on guns and magazines (that weren’t even used in Kansas City), places most of the onus on law-abiding gun owners, and would do next to nothing to reduce violence while jeopardizing Fourth Amendment due process rights.
It is time to act. That’s where I stand. And I ask the country to stand with me. To make your voice heard in Congress so we finally act to ban assault weapons, to limit high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, keep guns out of the hands of those who have no business owning them or handling them.
Biden brought up the Parkland shooting, which happened six years ago yesterday, as well as a couple of other assaults, including the three DC police officers shot Wednesday. That was a setup for this dubious assertion: “We’ve now had more mass shootings in 2024 than there have been days in the year.” The problem, he said once again, is “the epidemic of gun violence.”
Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a 44-year-old Hispanic mother of two and popular radio DJ in Kansas City, was killed yesterday. The Kansas City Star reports, “Nine children, ages 6 to 15, were among those shot.” In total, 22 parade-goers were shot, and eight of them sustained what authorities said were “life-threatening” injuries. One mom described being with her teen daughter: “All I did was wrap my arms around her because if something was going to happen, it was going to happen to me, not her.” Several fans bravely tackled and disarmed one suspect while police apprehended the others.
Biden is right — this sort of thing should shock us, and it should never happen.
But Biden and his entire party do nothing to slow or stop — and arguably much to create — the kind of violence that shattered Wednesday’s joyous celebration.
The shooting was “the result of a personal dispute that exploded into violence — and cops have detained three people who may be at fault,” reports the New York Post. Two of the three suspects in custody are juveniles.
Update: Two juveniles have been charged.
Is “personal dispute” a euphemism for gang-related?
Regardless, this is yet another story about violence in Democrat-controlled urban centers, unfortunately and primarily among blacks. Other than throwing out some eye-popping statistics about “gun deaths,” Democrats don’t talk much about the fact that their constituents keep murdering each other, and they certainly avoid discussing why.
In fact, Democrats generally slander those who point out such facts and reasons as racists. On Wednesday in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced that he won’t renew the city’s $49 million contract with ShotSpotter, a surveillance system intended to help reduce violence. Why? Racism. Johnson’s office claims the system unfairly targets communities of color.
We’re sure that has nothing to do with the frequency of shootings and other crimes in those communities. According to the University of Chicago, in 2021, “the homicide rate for Black residents was 40x that for white residents.” Forty times. But sure, the problem is guns.
Notably, the Windy City will continue to use ShotSpotter until September — after the Democratic National Convention is held there in August.
The Left’s answer to crime seems to be to get even softer on enforcement. In honor of Black History Month, MSNBC has released a new special called “Black Men In America: The Road to 2024.” The big takeaway is that we could reduce crime by … calling fewer things crimes.
That’s straight out of Joe Biden’s immigration policy handbook.
Biden’s policy is racist, of course, because it favors minorities illegally crossing our border. MSNBC’s suggestion is racist, too, because the reasoning — if it can be called that — is that laws just mean “criminalizing black culture.” We should be changing black culture, then, not our laws.
Like most other American cities controlled by Democrats, Kansas City suffers from urban violent crime. We just saw that yesterday. The real answer to this is to consistently and justly punish criminals while empowering law-abiding citizens to more effectively defend themselves.
The statistics bear that out. As more states expand concealed-carry laws and now even permitless carry, crime rates are falling. Just not in urban centers chock-full of violent Democrat constituents.
“What are we waiting for?” Biden asked. Indeed, the clear answers are right in front of us, but Democrats remain as blind as the worst NFL referee.
(Updated)