On Friday, USA Today reported that Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn is blaming what he calls Wisconsin’s “absurdly weak” gun control laws for an increase in murders in Milwaukee during the first half of 2015.
The newspaper noted, “Milwaukee has had 84 murders this year, more than double the 41 it tallied at the same point last year.” However, it also noted that Baltimore and Chicago, which have restrictive gun control laws, and New Orleans and St. Louis, which have less restrictive laws, have also experienced increases in murder. And Los Angeles and San Diego, which have California’s restrictive laws, and Phoenix and Indianapolis, which have less restrictive laws, have experienced decreases in murder.
Although Flynn should be aware of such facts, he’s just one of those guys that doesn’t know when to stop letting his bias against guns get the better of him.
In 2013, during Sen. Dianne Feinstein‘s (D-Calif.) Senate hearings on her legislation to ban all semi-automatic shotguns and all detachable-magazine semi-automatic rifles as “assault weapons,” Flynn disgraced himself and undermined Feinstein’s effort during a heated exchange with Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.).
Soon thereafter, on MSNBC, Flynn complained about the ownership of “high quality, high-capacity semi-automatic handguns” and said that it was “fundamental” that “the rights of communities … are every bit as important as the rights of individuals.” Sounds like Flynn would be more at ease having dinner with Vladimir Lenin than Thomas Jefferson.
Last year, in a vote held by Milwaukee’s police union, 99 percent of officers who cast ballots not surprisingly said they had “no confidence” in Flynn. We aren’t surprised.
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