Yesterday, Mayor Turner unveiled his big crime fighting initiative however he failed to mention one of the biggest drivers of the violent crime spike in the city.
That is the Democrat judges in Harris County repeatedly freeing violent offenders on low or no bond.Even those facing capital murder have been released on low bond only to murder again.
Fox 26’s Randy Wallace have been reporting on case after case of this.
Of course, Turner is a party man with aspiration for statewide office, so he certainly can’t criticize fellow Democrats.
So instead, he’ll blame the guns for the crime spike. So he’s going to implement a $1 million gun buyback program.
“In 2021, approximately 3,600 guns were stolen in Houston burglary of motor vehicle incidents. Increased police presence and traffic enforcement initiatives will serve to reduce the number of burglary incidents where guns are stolen from vehicles and used in the commission of felonious offenses once stolen. Stowing a weapon in a vehicle without a proper safe or locking mechanism is not a proper method to secure a firearm. Accordingly, HPD will design and launch a public safety campaign reminding motorists on how to properly secure their legally owned firearms.
In a proactive effort to respond to gun violence in our City, HPD will work with ATF and other federal partners to implement a robust crime gun intelligence response to include the use of NIBIN (National Integrated Ballistics Information Network) for investigative leads, seizing ghost guns and fully auto switches, and targeting offenders who repeatedly committed crimes using firearms. HPD investigators will also leverage federal prosecution opportunities where applicable.
There is no question there are too many guns on the streets. To incentivize the removal of stolen guns from Houston streets, the City will also fund a $1 million robust gun buyback initiative, which will reduce the likelihood of illegally obtained firearms being used in the furtherance of violent crime.”
Instead of saying “There is no question there are too many guns on the streets”, he should have said what we all know, “there is no question there are too many violent criminals free on the streets thanks to the Democrat judges in Harris County”.
Also, gun buyback programs don’t work.
Study last year by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined 339 buybacks from 1991 to 2015, in 277 cities and 110 counties.
Reason.com reports on the study’s findings that found crime did not decline after the buyback:
“Controlling for "demographic, socioeconomic, and policy controls measured at the county and state levels" that might affect the gun crime and gun death rates no matter what was going on with buybacks, the researchers concluded that "with 95 percent confidence, we can rule out gun crime declines in the 12 months following a [buyback] of greater than 1.3 percent and gun crime declines of greater than 2.2 percent" more than a year after they happen.
They also found that in the immediate two months following a buyback, jurisdictions saw "an increase in incidents of firearm-related crime. The 7.7 percent increase in gun crime…is relatively modest, suggesting at most, two additional gun crimes." They saw no corresponding increase in non-gun crimes in those two months. Breaking down the distinction between violent and nonviolent gun crimes, they found no evidence that buybacks lowered either in the short or the long run.
They broke down the data by demographic groups too, and they found no benefit for any specific group. Indeed, they found "short-run increases in gun crime for those ages 18 to 23…individuals over age 35…males…females…and African Americans."
When they broke their data down to specific places, they did find "significant declines in the rate of gun crime" after buybacks in the Ohio cities of Cincinnati and Columbus. But "in each case, the effect is rendered statistically indistinguishable from zero following the inclusion of a second year of post-treatment data." So the positive effect didn't last long....
So much for gun crimes—what about gun deaths? There too, buybacks don't offer much to recommend themselves. The researchers' probe into the data found "no evidence that firearm-related suicides and homicides declined in the the years following" a buyback, and "no evidence that firearm-related deaths fell relative to non-firearm related deaths" after one either."
Other proposals Mayor Turner wants to fight crime
- $2.5 million for the implementation of the CURE Violence program in targeted communities. The Cure Violence model trains and deploys outreach workers and violence interrupters to mitigate conflict on the street before it turns violent. T
- Increased support for the Community Re-Entry Network Program. The program helps formerly incarcerated individuals with successful community reintegration including workforce development, mental and behavioral health resources and housing and other basic needs referrals and resources. Reducing recidivism is critical for increasing long-term public health and safety and lowering corrections costs. The proposed $1 million dollar increase will allow a 50% increase in participants to grow from 500 to 750 annually.
- A proposed ordinance for council approval requiring security cameras on certain classes of businesses where the increase in crime in concentrated.