Free Republic

My new book, "Dear Father, Dear Son," talks about the No. 1 social problem in America -- children growing up without fathers. In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote "The Negro Family: A Case for National Action." At the time, 25 percent of blacks were born outside of wedlock, a number that the future Democratic senator from New York said was catastrophic to the black community. Moynihan wrote: "A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken homes, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any rational expectations...

The recent spate of mass shootings has prompted President Obama and his allies in Congress to pursue new gun control laws with special urgency. Mr. Obama is correct in sensing that the American people are ready for serious action on this issue, but he is mistaken in thinking that they are in agreement with him regarding the best way to address gun violence in America. His choice to focus exclusively on guns to the virtual exclusion of mental health issues or the role of violence in the media has backfired drastically. Gun sales are at record levels, and supply can...

There's a story told about a Paris chief of police who was called to a department store to stop a burglary in progress. Upon his arrival, he reconnoitered the situation and ordered his men to surround the entrances of the building next door. When questioned about his actions, he replied that he didn't have enough men to cover the department store's many entrances but he did have enough for the building next door. Let's see whether there are similarities between his strategy and today's gun control strategy. Last year, Chicago had 512 homicides; Detroit had 411; Philadelphia had 331;...

In the past few weeks, I've highlighted ways we can reduce violent crime in the U.S. But I've saved the best and most powerful solutions for last because they work from the inside out.In Part 1, I revealed how rational and rewarding it would be to post armed guards at our schools. In Part 2, I showed how reducing the number of firearms in the U.S. would not curb violent crime. In Part 3, I began to discuss the first of two ways in which our Founding Fathers expected to produce and maintain civility and decency in society. They esteemed...

In the past two weeks, I've highlighted ways we can reduce violent crime in the U.S. But I've saved the best and most powerful solutions for last because they work from the inside out. In Part 1, I revealed how rational and rewarding it would be to post armed guards at our schools. In Part 2, I showed how reducing the number of firearms in the U.S. would not curb violent crime. Today and next week, I will discuss an age-old solution that America's Founding Fathers knew was key for maintaining civility in our communities -- a solution being mimicked...

Who isn't sickened by the moral decay and heinous acts of violence across our country? My heart and prayers continue to go out to victims everywhere. But do gun bans -- such as the one proposed this past week by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., which would outlaw 120 specific firearms -- curb violent crime? Not according to a recent Fox News investigation titled "Assault-weapons ban no guarantee mass shootings would decrease, data shows." The report concluded, "Data published earlier this year showed that while the (Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which was signed by President Bill Clinton)...

Chicago is known for good steaks, expensive stores and beautiful architecture. Unfortunately, the Windy City also enjoys a reputation for corrupt politics, violent crime, and some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere in the country. To rational people, the inverse relationship between the last two is obvious. Unfortunately for residents of and visitors to Chicago, the city is governed by officials who operate not in the real world, but in a virtual “Bizarro World,” where up is down, black is white, and good guys are to be punished. In this strange environment, current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (who...

Violent crimes unexpectedly jumped 18 percent last year, the first rise in nearly 20 years, and property crimes rose for first time in a decade. But academic experts said the new government data fall short of signaling a reversal of the long decline in crime.

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) -- An illegal immigrant has pleaded guilty to raping a six-year-old Shallotte girl in 2010. Luis Arturo Sanchez, 23, entered a guilty plea this afternoon in Brunswick County Superior Court to first degree rape. Prosecutors say at the time of the crime, Sanchez was in the United States illegally. Assistant District Attorney Meredith Everhart said in court during the plea that Sanchez had confessed to engaging in intercourse with the child on one occasion and to attempting sexual intercourse with her on at least two other occasions. Judge Ola Lewis sentenced Sanchez to 12 to...

7 Black Teens Accused of Hate Crime in Videotaped Attack on Latino Boy March 30, 2012 PALMDALE, Calif (KTLA) -- Seven black teenagers are facing assault and hate crime charges after allegedly attacking a Latino youth as he walked home from school. It happened around 4 p.m. March 14 near Cactus Middle School in the 3200 block of East Avenue R-8. According to investigators, the 15-year old victim was approached by a group of up to 10 male black teenagers who challenged him to a fight, said "The suspects surrounded the victim and began punching him while several other juveniles...

A Manhattan charity worker who was nearly killed by a shopping cart pushed over a garage railing by teenage punks in October spoke publicly for the first time today -- expressing compassion for the pranksters who dropped the cart on her head. Marion Hedges, during a walk outside her Upper East Side apartment, said she hasn’t received an apology from the evil-doers. “I haven’t heard from them, but I wish them well,” Hedges said. “I do, because I feel very sorry for them.” “I don’t know that my son would do something like that or that his friends would do...

Police in Grand Rapids say that seven people were shot and killed at two locations on Thursday and they are actively searching for suspect Rodrick Shonte Dantzler. Police say three people, reportedly two women and a 10-year-old girl, are dead at one scene, and four others were killed at a separate scene about two miles away, reports CBS affiliate WWMT. According to a local station, another man was shot in what police believe is a related incident, but was not killed. The shootings stemmed from a domestic issue, reports The Grand Rapids Press. Police say they are searching for the...

Mayor Annise Parker lashed out at an controversial annual study released Monday that placed Houston among the most dangerous cities in the United States with a population of 500,000 or higher. "Crime Rankings 2010-2011," published by CQ Press, ranks Houston's crime as ninth-highest for big cities nationwide, placing it on a list with the likes of Detroit and Columbus, Ohio., although the city has less than half the crimes per capita of those atop the rankings. Violent crime in Houston fell 8 percent during the first half of this year and was on a pace to reach the lowest rate...

I love the gun control industry. They’re more predictable that a politician lying. (Speaking of which, I’m enjoying the sweet sound of silence now that John Edwards has mysteriously shut-up) Whenever laws are loosened, the gun control industry predicts bloodshed in the streets. ... Yet in 2008, when the Supreme Court told the District of Columbia that their handgun ban was history, the gun control industry resurrected the same claims concerning carnage. ... Crime statistics are in for 2009, the first full year in which D.C. citizens have been allowed to keep handguns at home, the overall violent crime rate...

The Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force just released a report which claims that due to tougher laws and a concerted effort by law enforcement, many illegal alien gangs are leaving Virginia for the safe havens of Maryland. The report said: "Many gang members from Northern Virginia are moving or driving to Prince George's and other Maryland counties, into the District of Columbia or further south and west into Virginia to avoid dealing with police departments that are unrelenting in their efforts to keep gangs under control.” The report also found that there are 5,000 gang members in Northern Va.,...

--snip-- Violent crime in the city of Chicago is out of control," Blagojevich said at the bill signing ceremony. "I'm offering resources of the state to the city to work in a constructive way with Mayor Daley to do everything we can possibly do to help stop this violence," said the governor. The summer of 2008 will be remembered as especially violent. Blagojevich said there's been a child shot nearly every day since June 26, with 29 Chicago Public School students shot since last fall

The Memphis metropolitan area, after coming in second last year, tops this year's ranking of metro areas by the rate of violent crime -- homicide, rape, aggravated assault and robbery. In 2006, according to crime numbers released by the FBI, the eight-county Memphis metropolitan area recorded 1,262.7 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the nation. Last year, the Florence, S.C., metropolitan statistical area had the highest violent crime rate in the country. Memphis came in second with 1,197 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. And that was up from 1,132 in 2004. The Memphis metro area includes Crittenden...

Violent crime rose by double-digit percentages in cities across the country over the last two years, reversing the declines of the mid-to-late 1990s, according to a new report by a national law enforcement association. While overall crime has been declining nationwide, police officials have been warning of a rise in murder, robbery and gun assaults since late 2005, particularly in midsize cities and the Midwest. Now, they say, two years of data indicates that the spike is more than an aberration. “There are pockets of crime in this country that are astounding,” said Chuck Wexler, of the Police Executive Research...

NEW ORLEANS — It was Helen who wanted to come back to New Orleans but Paul was worried. After all, the couple's home had been deluged by five feet of water during hurricane Katrina and they would have to find a new place to stay. And everybody knew that the recovery of this long-troubled city was advancing in fits and starts. Toxic sludge lay over many neighbourhoods and crime was surging. So to persuade him, from her parents' home in South Carolina, where the couple had fled from the hurricane, Helen Hill, a 36-year-old animator and filmmaker, began her postcard...

A radio commercial for a local gun shop advises Houstonians to arm themselves against "Katricians," adding to the growing tension between Houstonians and the Katrina evacuees who have been blamed for a rising crime rate. Gun shop owner and radio talk-show host Jim Pruett said Thursday he started running the ad a few weeks ago after hearing a local television interview with a Katrina evacuee living in Houston who implied he would have to turn to crime if his government assistance ran out. "There are many evacuees here who are working," said Pruett, who has owned Jim Pruett's Guns &...