Shootings Approach 14-Year High in Mayor de Blasio’s NYC

NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea indicated Tuesday shootings in New York City are on track to be at their highest level in 14 years.

The New York Post quoted Shea saying, “I wish I had better news on gun violence specifically… we’re looking to close out the year on a 14-year high.”

Shea made his comments, noting, “We have made staggering numbers of gun arrests, taking guns off the streets from felons, doing it almost always without a shot being fired. But when you look three days later, four days later, those individuals are back on the street committing more gun violence.”

He added, “Until we come to that realization as a society — is this what we want? It’s good to have philosophical discussions about ‘end mass incarceration’ and ‘end incarceration’ but you don’t want to do it by turning the innocent public into jails in their own apartments and houses.”

NYC shootings were up 96 percent during the first 11 months of 2020 and in November alone there was “a 112% increase from the same time last year.”

November 2020 murders also increased enough to drive the city’s “murder rate up 38 percent.”

Breitbart News reported that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s NYC surpassed the grim threshold of 1,000 shootings for 2020 before the month of August had come to a close. The Post reported NYPD data indicating there had been 1,004 shootings in NYC as of August 30, 2020. There were 537 shootings by that same time in 2019.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.