The significant increase in property and violent crime across the United States has elicited several distinct responses from both ordinary Americans and large corporations. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) was elected 30 years ago, in part on the ‘broken windows’ theory of policing: that smaller crimes, unenforced, will lead to larger ones.
Three decades later, evidence shows that this is often the case.
Many on the political left have argued that such crime does not deserve a response with potentially deadly force. However, the significant increase in property and violent crime often blurs the two.
Furthermore, many conservatives argue that protecting property and family is essential to self-defense.
The rise in property and violent crime led to a sharp increase in many Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights. More than 22 million citizens now have concealed-carry permits and last month Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) made the Sunshine State the 26th in the nation to allow for permitless carry.
The issue has grown in severity since the 2020 protests that followed the death of George Floyd. A number of ‘defund the police’ candidates and bureaucrats steered many of the nation’s major cities’ crime policies.
Furthermore, a number of state-level policies contributed to the rise of property crime at the retail level.
The result has been a sharp increase in robberies in stores that are often not prosecuted, especially in large cities such as New York, Portland and San Francisco.
The issue has grown so large that several large corporations closed their locations.
In Portland, for example, Walmart announced that it was closing all of its branches in the city. Walgreens announced the closure of five of its San Francisco locations.
Walmart has announced it will permanently close all its locations in Portland, Ore. Nearly 600 will lose their jobs. The closures follow the consequences of the 2020 BLM-Antifa riots that helped justify & normalize urban criminality & retail theft. https://t.co/LKx5FP1p1q
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) March 3, 2023
Whole Foods recently closed its flagship location in San Francisco after extensive shoplifting and issues with homeless patrons.
Large corporations and average Americans have taken two different tracks regarding the increase in crime. However, it appears that they both understand that unaddressed property crime is often a symptom of a much larger issue.
