Actor James Woods took blasted President Joe Biden meeting with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) amid a surge in violent crimes, theft, and shootings in the city, saying “as long as Democrats continue to defund the police, America’s streets will run with blood.”
“Criminals will always have guns and will always use them with little regard for the lives of innocents,” James Wood tweeted, responding to a Fox News story about President Biden meeting with Mayor Lightfoot after Chicago experienced its most violent weekend of 2021 over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
“The only way to end crime is to wage war on gangs in America,” the Casino and White House Down star said. “As long as Democrats continue to defund the police, America’s streets will run with blood.”
Indeed, a total of 72 people were shot in Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago over the July 4th weekend — including several children.
Moreover, violent crime has been surging in America’s streets while Democrats push to defund police departments nationwide.
Last month, in an attempt to shift the crime wave blame onto Republicans, the Biden Administration falsely accused the GOP of “defunding the police.
Both Biden advisor Cedric Richmond and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had made accusations, with Richmond claiming “[Republicans] defunded the police,” and Psaki insisting the GOP has pushed to defund the police by not voting for Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan — also known as the COVID-19 Stimulus Package.
Evidence as to who has been defunding the police, however, points to the contrary. The far-left Washington Post on Wednesday blew up the Biden White House-Democratic Party talking point.
Although Republicans all opposed Biden’s coronavirus relief package, no one voted to cut, or defund, anything.
[…]
[V]oting against a one-time infusion of cash is not the same as voting to cut funding, so there is little basis to claim that Republicans are trying to “defund the police.”
As Breitbart News recently reported, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Portland — all of which are run by Democrats — are just a few of the big cities that have slashed police department budgets this past year.
And for Chicago, it’s particularly bad.
Thus far, the Windy City has suffered more than 350 shooting deaths this year among a total of 2,100 shooting victims
According to ABC News, shootings in Chicago are four times higher than the rate in New York City and 2.5 times higher than that of Los Angeles.
Indeed, it is common for victims of gun crime to also have been accused of being shooters themselves.
Most of the gun crime in Chicago, though, is a result of gang activity. ABC also noted that there are an estimated 100,000 gang members in Chicago compared to only 12,000 police officers. And that there has been a 25 percent increase in gang activity in Chicago between 2009 and 2012.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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