Biden’s strategy against violence: harsher punishments for the “dealers of death”

I.ever more murder victims, more and more assaults: In view of the increasing violent crime, US President Biden has recently come under increasing pressure. Now he has presented plans for a strategy against the illegal arms trade.

US President Joe Biden wants arms dealers who break the law to be more consistently accountable. “We will make sure that they cannot sell death and chaos on our streets. It is a scandal that has to be ended and we will end it,” said Biden. The license of such dealers should be withdrawn.

Biden referred to a study that found 90 percent of the weapons found at crime scenes in the United States came from just five percent of all arms dealers in the country. “These dealers of death break the law for profit and sell weapons that kill innocent people.” He added, “We will find her.”

Harsher penalties for arms dealers

As part of a new strategy against violent crime, Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that there will be tougher penalties for arms dealers who sell their products to unauthorized persons or who do not check their background. In addition, the local security authorities are to be strengthened, especially with a view to the upcoming summer months, for which an increase in crime is expected again.

For example, the FBI is supposed to help the Federal Police to identify violent criminals and criminal organizations in communities. The federal agency ATF, which is responsible for the control of firearms, is to expand the inspection of arms dealers. In addition, Biden focuses on prevention and more money for social work. Adolescents and young adults should get more employment offers. Former offenders should be supported in their reintegration into their social environment.

According to the White House, the number of homicides in the first quarter of this year was 24 percent higher than in the same period last year and 49 percent higher than in the same period of 2019. The White House leads the rise in violence to the spread of illegal weapons and also to the coronavirus. Pandemic back.

However, President Biden has limited room for maneuver in the fight against crime. A far-reaching change in gun laws would require a clear majority of Democrats in Congress. They only have a slim majority in both chambers, the Congress and the Senate.

Fear of a fear campaign

Most recently, the pressure on Biden to take action against the rising crime rate – also from within its own ranks. For example, the Democratic candidate for mayoral of New York, Eric Adams, a former police officer, built his election campaign entirely on the subject of “safe roads for New York”. “I believe in reforming the police, but I also believe in public security,” he says at his events and, according to initial predictions, has left his internal party rivals behind. It seems like New York security was more interested than post-pandemic rebuilding.

Thomas Friedman, one of the most influential commentators in the US, headlined in the New York Times: “If you want Donald Trump to be president again in 2024, you have to take the police out of their hands” and recalls the simple formulas of the former president. For example, “Chicago is a disaster” because gun ownership is regulated there. This is the message that the democratic mayor is lax towards criminals.

Democrats also know that this is done in many cities and that the police are more than frustrated. When in doubt, many police officers no longer pursue criminals because they are afraid of being reported for violence. Applications have fallen dramatically. Politically, President Biden sits between the chairs. The left in his party calls for harshness against the police, the conservative wing, that he credibly ensures more security by standing behind the police and strengthening them. They consider regulations against gun ownership to be insufficient to win elections.