by Richard Pearson 
ISRA Executive Director

This year has become the year of Zoom as the pandemic has forced everyone to opt for virtual meetings as opposed to in person meetings.

And at some point, on the Zoom call someone inevitably says, “I hope everyone is staying safe.”

What they mean, of course, is that they hope everyone is safe from contracting the virus, but the truth is there are other safety concerns that have manifested themselves this year and these public safety risks should alarm us every bit as much as COVID-19. 

In just a short time, efforts to defund police departments have unraveled years of work to make our cities safe. Businesses everywhere are being boarded up because the cops do not have the manpower or the resources to protect them. In some cities, armed radicals have carved up entire city blocks and declared autonomous zones.

In Minneapolis, the City Council voted to defund the Police Department. So far this year, homicides in Minneapolis are up 50 percent and more than 500 people have been shot, which is twice as many as 2019.

The reality is the war on police is only going to intensify in the coming year. This Christmas, when you see police officers doing their jobs while the rest of us are celebrating, say a prayer for them and their families. They are overwhelmed and we need to stand with them against the efforts to defund them.

But in the meantime, we need to make our own personal safety a priority. Without the proper resources, the police simply cannot respond to threats in a timely manner. This means honest citizens are on their own.

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, but this Christmas honest citizens also need and deserve the peace of mind that comes with owning a firearm because as more police departments are defunded the more likely it is that they are going to need to protect themselves.

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