Reality has forced Democrat Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser to fight crime in her imploding city.
Her proposed legislation is called the ACT Act and directs law enforcement to put a stop to organized shoplifting gangs, loitering, and the open-air drug markets that have been destroying her city for years.
WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 31: Shelves with specific products that tend to be shoplifted are stocked with the bare minimum as Giant Foods grocery is making some changes to their stores to address organized retail crime, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Here are the pertinent excerpts from her statement this week:
Under the new law, it will be illegal for any person to organize a theft for profit scheme by recruiting or directing other individuals to commit organized retail theft. We are also reinstating the law that makes it unlawful for to wear a mask for the purpose of committing criminal acts or threatening people or causing fear. Obviously, our community’s relationship around wearing masks has changed significantly since 2020, and thank God for that.
The new legislation will allow MPD to limit loitering by reinstating the ability for the police chief to declare a drug free zone for up to 120 hours to disrupt and prohibit people from congregating on public space for the purchase, sale or use of illegal drug. The establishment of a temporary drug free zone will allow MPD and community members to work together to interrupt illegal activity and allow neighborhoods to reclaim our space.
Most importantly, the far-left mayor is backing off a bit with her abject hatred of the police:
MPD continues to be a leader in fair and constitutional policing across this nation. They continue to work every day to have and keep the trust of our city. And this legislation won’t change that. It will, however, support the department in dealing with some of the negative consequences of the Comprehensive Police Adjustment and Injustice Amendment Act. Some of the changes that were made just don’t match the daily practice of safe and effective policing. And whether that’s around incidental contact you can make with a person, or how officers can use their body worn camera footage to write reports or whether police are allowed to safely chase a criminal who’s right in front of them[.]”
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger is sworn in to testify at a Senate Rules and Administration Committee oversight hearing on January 5, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Elizabeth Frantz-Pool/Getty Images)
The ACT Act?
Whatever.
The reality is this… Crime in D.C. soared by 23 percent at the beginning of the year — 23 percent!
Wanna know why? Because when criminals know they can get away with crime they 1) commit more crimes, and 2) move their criminality to where they are most likely to get away with it.
This explosion in crime happened just after the Democrat-run city council passed the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022, which reduced punishment for certain crimes. One lunatic example: Instead of a mandatory three to 15-year sentence for possessing a firearm in commission of a violent crime, the mandatory three-year minimum was eliminated and the maximum set at just four years.
Only the insane pass such laws. We’re not talking about bouncing a check or stealing a loaf of bread. We’re talking about beating someone over the head with a gun while robbing them. People capable of such savage behavior belong in prison for a very long time — forever works for me.
So, in 2022, D.C. reduced punishment for violent crime, even as violent crime rates increased.
Naturally, black people are the disproportionate victims of this crime spree, but Democrats don’t care about black people and haven’t since the Civil War forced Democrats to free their slaves.
The thing about crime is this…
Out of 100 criminals, maybe 20 are committing 60 to 80 percent of the crimes. You have to go after those 20 and put them away forever. Fighting crime is that simple. Three strikes laws (three convicted felonies equals life in prison) are very effective. I agree with exempting drug possession and drug use from three strikes laws. That goes too far. But violence? No. You’re done. Throw away the key.
A former corrections officer sold a key to the women’s jail to inmates.
Try to imagine yourself committing violence against someone. You’re not in a fight. You don’t even know the person. Imagine you pass some woman on the street. She’s all alone. You come up behind her with a knife. You wrap your arm around her neck. You steal her purse. You throw her to the ground. You kick her a few times — some helpless, innocent woman.
You can’t imagine that because decent people couldn’t live with doing such a thing. It would haunt us forever.
People capable of committing that kind of violence are different from you and I, and they need to be locked up forever.
America solved our violent crime problems in the 1990s straight through to 2020, when Democrats lost their minds over Trump and let the domestic terrorists in Black Lives Matter and Antifa run wild. Democrats stood aside as their cities burnt, hoping civil unrest would damage Trump.
A demonstrator kicks back a tear gas canister back at federal officers during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Well, here we are, nearly four years later. Can idiots like Bowser put the toothpaste back in the tube?
Here’s my answer…
Who the hell cares?
I don’t live there.
I live here.
The moron voters of D.C. are getting what they voted for.
D.C. is not my problem.
The whole city can burn for all I care.
Why should I care about D.C. when the people who live there don’t? That would be stupid.
John Nolte’s debut novel Borrowed Time (Bombardier Books) is available today. You can read an exclusive excerpt here and a review of the novel here.
