by Newt Gingrich

As I watch the continuing efforts to defund or abolish police across the country, I have been struck by the radical Left’s willingness to stick with its dangerous ideology even when Americans are killed because of it.

According to Fox 32 Chicago, over Father’s Day weekend, there were 104 people shot and 14 killed in the Windy City. Tragically, these statistics include a 3-year-old who was shot while in the backseat of his father’s car. This follows the last week of May, in which 85 people were shot in Chicago, with 24 of them perishing.

Fox 9 in Minneapolis reported there were a half a dozen shootings over the weekend that left 21 injured and two dead. These horrible casualties include a 17 year old who was shot while driving. The people in the car with him when he was shot dropped him in the street and left him for dead. And, early on Sunday, there were 12 people shot while standing in line at a restaurant. One died. The weekend before, six people were wounded, and one was killed in other shootings.

In New York City, there have been 51 shootings since June 15, with at least 24 victims in 18 incidents on Sunday alone, according to ABC 7.

The list of mayhem and death goes on. I can’t help but wonder how many of these senseless murders could have been prevented if police in these cities had been supported by the politicians who command them. Instead of ordering police off the streets and threatening to cut their funding, the Democrats who run these cities should be working to reinstitute the rule of law and protect the innocent law-abiding Americans who they are supposed to represent.

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