US violent crimes surge is due to social order breakdown

The United States has long earned notoriety for having major cities struggling with rampant crime waves. It should be noted that the cities with the highest crime rates are largely controlled by Democrat mayors and Democrat majority-controlled city councils as they have often overlooked or at the very least misjudged the societal ills blighting their metropolitan areas.

Instead of cracking down on criminal gangs, there's a tendency among many Democrat politicians to voice support for slogans, such as "Defund the police." Taking such a stand has emboldened criminals to exploit the nation's judicial system that has moved towards a "soft on crime" approach.

District attorneys in Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago have all won elections on pledges to reform the criminal justice system, which have resulted in more violent convicts getting released early from their prison sentences. However, in numerous cases, the offenders returned to the streets to commit egregious acts of violence, acting as if they wanted to return back to their prison cells.

No more respect for law and order

In the summer of 2020, massive protests erupted across many American cities. Americans had witnessed moments of anarchy while in a number of cities - the local mayors and law enforcement officials failed to take stern measures to respond to the riots and mayhem. Amid the hysteria, many US lawmakers were suggesting that the police, not the criminals, were the primary source of the problems.

Under such prevailing attitudes, Joe Biden won the US elections in November that year and it was believed that he would take a "soft on crime" philosophy to the White House. Although, he did not endorse the "Defund the police" mantra, many American voters who supported the anti-police movement were Biden voters and donors to the Democrat Party.

Accordingly, the US is reaping what it has sown. The social chaos in American cities is spreading its toxic vibes to suburbia and the rural areas. The country is coming undone by higher rates of suicides, drug and alcohol abuse, families splitting apart; and of course violence, especially gun violence.

Meanwhile, US police officers are viewed as the enemy by many Americans. They are often depicted as the bullies and instigators of violence in media reports, TV shows, and movies and in pop culture songs. Consequently, we are hearing of more incidents of criminals assaulting cops and a rising number of police officers being shot and killed while in the line of duty.

Police officers assigned to take the criminals off the streets are resigning en masse, partly due to shame. They are feeling disrespected by society, by their leadership and by ordinary citizens as well. They have quit in increasing numbers while fewer candidates are entering the police academies to replace them.

Meanwhile, gun violence keeps rising and the vicious cycle continues to get much worse. In the past few days alone in the US, there have been reported incidents of mass gun shootings in the states of Georgia, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Chicago city and New York City's Brooklyn subway train. This could be a sign of much worse to come as crime reaches a peak in the heat of the summer months in the United States.

Yet, gun control will not fix the problem. The US Constitution protects the rights of law abiding gun owners in the second amendment. Besides, US law enforcement officials should focus their energies on arresting the criminals who have illegal possessions of guns instead.

Blaming the criminals is the key

Washington cannot fix its gun violence by enacting new gun control laws. The significant challenge is to keep the guns away from violent offenders. Even if the US government enacted sweeping laws to take guns away from Americans, the criminals will still have access to such lethal weapons.

A smarter solution is to restore the spirit of the rule of law in the United States. To teach young Americans to hold an abiding respect for police officers and law enforcement authority figures. US politicians should stop acting like hypocrites. They make comments such as, "people don't need guns to protect themselves," but at the same time they have armed guards protecting them at public events.

Ordinary Americans are feeling exposed and they are confronting scarier times too. Legal gun purchases are rising, since US citizens realize that the police officers are getting overwhelmed. US cities are reporting record rates of crimes and the summer season has not yet begun.

The US prides itself as a culture of tolerance, but they forget that victims of crimes deserve their empathy as well. The criminals do not deserve to be treated as heroes or so-called social justice warriors.

Thomas W. Pauken II is the author of the book "US vs China: From Trade Wars to Reciprocal Deal," and a consultant on Asia-Pacific affairs and geopolitical commentator.