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(READ) Republicans, shut out of hearing on violent crime spike, request full hearing on issue

Dated: December 17, 2021 by Sharyl Attkisson 2 Comments

      

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans are asking the Democrats who lead the Committee to hold a full hearing in Washington D.C. on the rise in violent crime in many American cities.

That request comes after the U.S. senators say they were shut out from participating in a field hearing on the topic.

Read the full information below.

Tuesday, December 14, 2021ย Judiciary Committee Republicans Seek Hearing on Spike in Violent Crime Senators were denied request to virtually join Chicago field hearing
WASHINGTON โ€“ย Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today are calling on Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to convene a full committee hearing on the rise in violent crime across the country.

Their request comes the day after senators were prohibited from participating virtually in aย Chicago-based field hearingย that focused on crime in Durbinโ€™s hometown.ย 

โ€œAlthough the hearing occurred in Chicago, the Chairmanโ€™s hometown, travel to Chicago would have been difficult for the other members of the committee during the last few weeks of the work period. Accordingly, we previously requested that you make virtual or telephone questioning available. That request was denied. We therefore request that you hold a full committee hearing in Washington, D.C. on the spike in murders and the challenges that law enforcement is facing,โ€ย the senators wrote.ย 

In the letter, the senators note that violent crime is spiking across the country, including a 30 percent increase in homicides since the summer of 2020. Though the prior administration took steps to combat violent crime, the senators are raising concern that the current administrationโ€™s plan is more focused on targeting lawful firearm owners.ย 

Full text of the senatorsโ€™ย letter to Durbinย follows:ย 

Dear Chairman Durbin:ย 

Yesterday you held a hearing entitled, โ€œCombating Gun Trafficking and Reducing Violence in Chicagoโ€ at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse in Chicago, Illinois.ย As you know, reducing violent crime is a topic about which many members of the committee are deeply passionate. Beginning in the summer of 2020, the country has experienced a sustained and unprecedented 30% increase in murders.[1]ย This spike has correlated with a move toward depolicing,[2]ย after the eruption of over 500 riots nationally.[3]ย Former Attorney General Bill Barr responded with Operation Legend, an initiative in which federal law enforcement agencies worked in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight violent crime. By the end of 2020, the initiative had yielded 467 homicide arrests and seized thousands of firearms and kilos of drugs.[4]ย In June of 2021, the Biden Administration unveiled its own strategy to reduce violent crime.[5]ย 

We were troubled to see how much of the Presidentโ€™s strategy focuses on lawful gun acquisition and lawful gun owners. For example, one of the tenets of the Presidentโ€™s plan is finding ways to sue legal gun manufacturers, an initiative that would do much to interfere with Americansโ€™ access to guns but nothing to target murders or reduce crime. A 2019 study by DOJ found that few firearms used in crime are acquired from firearm dealers, about 7%, compared to 56% who stole a firearm or bought it in a black market.[6]ย Legally owned firearms play an important role in allowing Americans to protect themselves during a violent crime surge.

A 2013 CDC-commissioned study found that as many as millions of people a year defend themselves with a firearm.[7]ย We understand that the hearing included witnesses who could answer questions about the Presidentโ€™s plan and the challenges of countering this increase in crime. Although the hearing occurred in Chicago, the Chairmanโ€™s hometown, travel to Chicago would have been difficult for the other members of the committee during the last few weeks of the work period. Accordingly, we previously requested that you make virtual or telephone questioning available. That request was denied.ย We therefore request that you hold a full committee hearing in Washington, D.C. on the spike in murders and the challenges that law enforcement is facing.

Ineffective bail policies, cumbersome restraints on police officers, and the impact of the โ€œprogressive prosecutorโ€ movement are exacerbating this surge. While it would have been helpful to explore the effects of these factors on crime in Chicago, given the many other cities that are impacted by the crime surge, we believe it would be even more useful if we could explore these problems on a national scale with the full committee.ย Thank you for your attention to this request.ย 

Sincerely,ย 

Charles E. GrassleyRanking MemberCommittee on the Judiciaryย 
Lindsey O. GrahamUnited States SenatorCommittee on the Judiciaryย 
John CornynUnited States SenatorCommittee on the Judiciaryย ย ย ย 
Michael S. LeeUnited States SenatorCommittee on the Judiciaryย 
Ted CruzUnited States SenatorCommittee on the Judiciaryย 
Ben SasseUnited States SenatorCommittee on the Judiciaryย 
Josh HawleyUnited States SenatorCommittee on the Judiciaryย 
Tom CottonUnited States SenatorCommittee on the Judiciaryย 
John KennedyUnited States SenatorCommittee on the Judiciaryย 
Thom TillisUnited States SenatorCommittee on the Judiciaryย 
Marsha BlackburnUnited States SenatorCommittee on the Judiciary

[1]ย Zusha Elinson,ย Murders Rose Nearly 30% in the U.S. in 2020, FBI Reports, WSJ (Sept. 27, 2021),ย https://www.wsj.com/articles/murders-rose-nearly-30-percent-in-the-u-s-in-2020-fbi-reports-11632769332.[2]ย Paul G. Cassell,ย Explaining the Recent Homicide Spikes in U.S. Cities: The โ€œMinneapolis Effectโ€ and the Decline in Proactive Policingย (Sept. 10, 2020), at 27,ย available atย https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3690473ย (internal citations omitted).[3]ย Emma Colton,ย Conservatives point out that Princeton study on protests reveals violence was found at hundreds of demonstrations, Wash. Examiner (Sept. 6, 2020),ย https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/conservatives-point-out-that-princeton-study-on-protests-reveals-violence-was-found-at-hundreds-of-demonstrations.[4]ย Press Release, U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General William P. Barr Announces Results of Operation Legend (Dec. 23, 2020),ย https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-william-p-barr-announces-results-operation-legend.[5]ย Press Release,ย Biden-โ Harris Administration Announces Comprehensive Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gun Crime and Ensure Public Safetyย (June 23, 2021),ย https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/06/23/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-comprehensive-strategy-to-prevent-and-respond-to-gun-crime-and-ensure-public-safety/.[6]ย  U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Source and Use of Firearms Involved in Crimes: Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016 (January 2019).[7]ย Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academies, Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence, 15 (2013);ย see alsoย Center for Disease Control, Firearm Violence Prevention,ย https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/firearms/fastfact.html.

      

About Sharyl Attkisson

Emmy-Award Winning Investigative Journalist, New York Times Best Selling Author, Host of Sinclair's Full Measure

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Comments

  1. Stephen Triesch says

    December 17, 2021 at 1:10 pm

    The same party that is always prattling on about the threat to "democracy" posed by Republicans continues to act unilaterally by shutting Republicans out of hearings that they should be allowed to attend. This has been gojng on for far too long. I can't think of a better example of a "threat to democracy" than this sort of behavior.

    Reply

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