Opinion: Getting Serious About Crime

The past few weeks have seen a typical display of just how formulaic and predictable our local elected officials are as they echo national talking points while trying to micromanage our lives, threaten gun rights, and in general treat us like incompetent rubes who couldn't exist on our own without their guiding wisdom. They made big claims about wanting to deal with violent crime but presented no actual solutions.

On July 12, Gainesville City Commissioner David Arreola recommended using American Rescue Plan money to fund a Department of Youth Services. You can find this quote at the 1:02:00 mark in the video or search the transcript for the tenth instance of "arreola":

"We've had a lot of violence. Teenagers involved in that violence. We had a mass shooting at the American Legion, and it was gang-related violence as well. Someone lost their life. I really, really care deeply about including — I feel like it's an emergency. I feel like all across the nation, it isn't just Gainesville, all across the nation we're seeing increases in violent crime that's been reflective of the stress, the psychological damage this last year has done to us as human beings."

The irony that most of the psychological damage was probably caused by arbitrary lockdowns by power-hungry politicians was lost on Arreola.

The next day, County Commissioner Anna Prizzia was on the same script. She nearly sobbed, "We've got young people as young as my daughter getting access to guns and shooting at each other… if they don't have anything to do, they are going to find something to do." (Search this transcript for "gun violence" to find her remarks.)

The sheer ignorance of these commissioners never ceases to amaze anyone who bothers to listen to their dangerous ramblings. Their ideas are nothing new and have already failed at other times and in other places. .....