The Real Pandemic Was Crime — and the Left’s War on Self-Defense

America’s cities are still recovering from a different kind of pandemic — one that began in 2020 and spread faster than any virus: a pandemic of violent crime.

From New York to Chicago, Los Angeles to Houston, major metropolitan areas saw record spikes in murder, assault, and carjackings during the lockdown years.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics and numerous independent crime datasets all show the same pattern: homicide rates soared by more than 30 percent between 2019 and 2021 — the largest single-year jump in U.S. history.

But while the numbers are unmistakable, the political spin has been even more breathtaking than the surge itself.

Lockdowns, not liberty, fueled the violence

Democratic strongholds, where lockdowns were harshest and police budgets slashed the deepest, bore the brunt of the chaos. Chicago, Philadelphia, and Baltimore recorded their deadliest years in decades.

Portland and Minneapolis turned into case studies in what happens when city councils dismantle police departments while prosecutors let repeat offenders walk free.

Yet rather than admit that their lockdowns, soft-on-crime prosecutors, and anti-police rhetoric created a perfect storm of lawlessness, Democrats have done what they always do: rewrite the data and blame Republicans.

Now, as post-pandemic crime levels begin slowly falling back toward 2019 levels, Democrats are patting themselves on the back — and claiming their “gun safety” policies deserve the credit.

In their retelling, it wasn’t urban anarchy or failed leadership that fueled the spike. It was “Republican gun policies.”

That’s political alchemy — the art of turning their own failures into ammunition for their gun confiscation agenda.

Cooking the books, one chart at a time

The Biden-era FBI and sympathetic academics have helped by quietly adjusting definitions, excluding inconvenient cases, and filtering the numbers through a partisan lens.

Take the FBI’s ongoing refusal to properly count defensive gun uses (DGUs) — instances where law-abiding citizens use a firearm to stop a crime.

For years, independent researchers have found between 1 and 2 million defensive gun uses per year in the United States.

Yet the FBI’s “active shooter” database counted barely a handful of citizen interventions — claiming that armed citizens stopped attackers in only 4 percent of cases.

A study by the Crime Prevention Research Center exposed the truth: when local reporting and video evidence are included, the number jumps to nearly 15 percent — and likely higher, because many incidents go unreported or are misclassified as “security guard” actions.

The FBI’s undercount isn’t just sloppy work. It’s part of a deliberate effort to suppress evidence that contradicts the Left’s central myth — that guns in civilian hands cause more harm than good.

In reality, the safest place for a firearm is in the hands of a law-abiding citizen. When every second counts, police are often minutes away. Your safety is your responsibility — and your right.

The Bloomberg influence machine

Of course, the misinformation doesn’t stop at the FBI.

Billionaire activist Michael Bloomberg has built a well-oiled propaganda empire dedicated to selling gun control under a softer name: “gun safety.”

His millions bankroll media “training” sessions for journalists on how to frame gun issues “responsibly” — that is, in a way that reinforces his narrative.

Through his outfits like Everytown for Gun Safety and The Trace, Bloomberg funds so-called “research” that cherry-picks data, excludes defensive gun use, and blames law-abiding gun owners for the actions of criminals.

Then he feeds those talking points straight into the mouths of the legacy media, which repeat them word for word.

The result? Americans are told that crime is down, that guns are the problem, and that the solution is “universal background checks” — Washington-speak for universal gun registration.

But the endgame is obvious. Registration always precedes confiscation. And confiscation, not safety, is the real objective of the Left’s gun-control crusade.

Texans see through the spin

Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights, says it best:

“The Left calls it ‘common-sense gun reform,’ but Texans know better. Every so-called reform they push moves us one step closer to universal gun registration — and once the government knows who owns what, confiscation is only a matter of time.”

McNutt also points out that as crime surged, Texans who relied on themselves instead of government bureaucrats fared best.

“A gun in the hands of a trained, law-abiding citizen saves lives every single day,” he said.

“Meanwhile, the same politicians who disarmed their citizens during lockdowns now want credit for a drop in the crime wave they created.”

The facts are clear:

Violent crime exploded after Democrat lockdowns crippled law enforcement and emboldened criminals.

The FBI has systemically underreported cases where armed citizens prevented mass shootings.

The media, funded and coached by Bloomberg’s machine, continues to parrot false narratives that make gun ownership look dangerous — while ignoring the millions of times guns save lives each year.

America doesn’t need more background checks, more databases, or more bureaucrats deciding who can defend themselves.

What it needs is honesty — and leadership willing to stand up to the narrative machine that profits from fear.

Until then, the truth will keep coming from ordinary Americans — the men and women who refuse to be victims, who train, who carry, and who understand that when evil strikes, you are your own best first line of defense.