Biden pushes MORE funding and hiring for police and tells local Democrat leaders including NYC mayoral candidate Eric Adams that a 'coordinated effort' is needed to combat the surge in gun violence
President Joe Biden on Monday told local Democratic leaders, including New York City Mayoral candidate Eric Adams, that he'll push for more funding for police as part of his plan to combat gun violence.
Biden hosted several leaders at the White House to discuss gun violence as its rate surge around the country.
'Our strategy provides, including funding for law enforcement through the American Rescue Plan, for state cities and to be able to hire police and pay them overtime in order to advance community policing,' the president said.
Biden also called for greater coordination between state, federal and local governments and called keeping each other safe the first responsibility of democracy.
'It's about coordinating at a federal, state, local level. That's what ultimately, what we're going to talk about today. We recognize that we have to come together to fulfill the first responsibility of democracy: Keep each other safe. That's what the American people are looking for when it comes to reducing violent crime and gun violence. And I think this is illustrative of what we need to get put together,' he said.
President Joe Biden hosts a meeting with (L-R) San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, Wilmington Police Chief Robert Tracy and others about reducing gun violence
Brooklyn Borough President and New York City mayoral nominee Eric Adams attended the meeting, as did Attorney General Merrick Garland
Biden convened local Democratic leaders for a meeting on gun violence in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Monday
The leaders gathered as gun violence is on the rise in the United States
During the meeting, which took place in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, the group will discuss strategies to reduce crime and gun violence, including more funding for police and what the federal government is doing to stem the flow of guns used in crime, a senior administration official told DailyMail.com.
Attorney General Merrick Garland also attended as did Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and San Jose, California, Mayor Sam Liccardo.
Joining them were Wilmington Police Department Chief Robert Tracy, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis and Lt. Anthony Lima of the Newark, New Jersey, police. Aqeela Sherrills, the co-founder of the Community-Based Public Safety Collective, was also there.
Gun violence is on the rise in the United States. Through the first five months of 2021, gunfire killed more than 8,100 people, about 54 lives lost per day, according to a Washington Post analysis. Gun violence this year is on track to surpass levels in 2020, which was one of the deadliest years of gun violence in decades.
Republicans have been critical of the rising crime rates and have charged Democrats with wanting to defund the police. Biden has said repeatedly he doesn't support such a move but he did endorse police reform, a movement that gained strength in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd.
Adams, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, made gun violence a center piece of his campaign. Last week Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a new state of emergency around gun violence after seeing more than a 75% rise in parts of New York.
Adams, a former New York Police Department captain, is the general election favorite. He faces Curtis Sliwa, the Republican founder of the Guardian Angels. Democrats outnumber Republicans 7-to-1 in New York City.
He officially won the Democratic mayoral nomination last week after defeating a crowded primary field.
Adams was critical of Democratic efforts on the issue in an interview over the weekend.
On Sunday, he criticized Democrat lawmakers efforts to curb gun violence are 'misplaced' talks in Congress to overhaul the nation's policing laws continue to stall.
'I believe those priorities, they really were misplaced. And it's almost insulting what we have witnessed over the last few years,' Adams told CNN's State of the Union, when asked about his party's priorities. 'Many of our Presidents, they saw these numbers. They knew that the inner cities, particularly where Black, brown and poor people lived, they knew they were dealing with this real crisis. And it took this President to state that it is time for us to stop ignoring what is happening in the south sides of Chicago, in the Brownsvilles, in the Atlantas of our country.'
Crime rates have been rising throughout New York City, with the NYPD reporting last week that crime rates rose 3.1 percent over last year, with a 32.3 percent increase in grand larceny and a 16 percent increase in robberies.
Shooting incidents increased 37.8 percent from last year, with 765 incidents reported from January 1 to June 20, with 886 shooting victims, up from 670 in 2020. There were 217 homicides in that time period, up 8.5 percent from last year, according to NYPD's crime statistics.
A crime scene in New York last week - gun violence is up across the United States
Crimes have been rising throughout New York City, according to the NYPD
In June, Biden announced his plan to combat gun violence, including stemming the flow of illegal weapons. One way he'll try to combat that is through new strike forces in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington to help take down illegal gun traffickers and a new 'zero tolerance' policy for dealers who sell guns illegally.
Biden's plan to curb gun violence includes providing funding to cities that need more police, offering community support and cracking down on gun violence and supplying illegal firearms.
White House officials also point out that local communities are using funds from Biden's COVID-19 rescue package to bolster summer programming, create job opportunities in at-risk communities, and fund community violence intervention programs - all measures aimed at reducing gun violence.