Hillary Clinton pledges to end epidemic of violence, but Obama says crime is down substantially

Despite the nationwide heat wave, President Obama managed to hit the links Saturday, but not before holding a meeting Friday on policing practices. The good news, according to the president: violent crime has been on the decline for decades.

Addressing a WH meeting on policing practices; Pres Obama again stresses that violent crime substantially lower than 10, 20 and 30 yrs ago.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) July 22, 2016

That might have been the president’s way of countering the “dystopian American hellscape” depicted by Donald Trump in his acceptance speech at the RNC Thursday night. Not only was law and order a major theme of his speech: The New York Times notes that Trump said the words “law and order,” four times, “each time drawing out the syllables.”

Hillary Clinton has been known to draw out her syllables as well depending on the audience, but apparently she, like most of the nation, missed the president’s update Friday. On her website, she makes note of the groups with whom she will work to “take on the epidemic of violence” that claims 33,636 lives a year with guns alone.

So if Trump is scare-mongering and his vision of America doesn’t jibe with the facts, what is Clinton up to, and why doesn’t her claim of an epidemic of violence mesh with the president’s much rosier picture?

https://twitter.com/EF517_V2/status/756566262205984769

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factually true so why the need4 stricter gun laws?We've seen stricter guns laws dont prevent mass shootings in other countries

— kitty (@mkbl) July 22, 2016

And gun ownership is up. Imagine that.

— CM1 (@CMerlo1) July 22, 2016

This important message needs to get out. He could start in Chicago, which has recorded 364 homicides so far this year, compared to 490 for all 12 months of 2015.

Suit him up & send him out in the streets to police Chicago

— That effort (@donnakaye2014) July 22, 2016

Shouldn’t he make an extra effort to let all the protesters blocking the highways and chaining themselves to buildings know that violent crime is way down?

Then why does BLM even exist?

— Cocaine Jack (@jackbrazen) July 22, 2016

Step 1: Undermine the police. Step 2: Say they aren't needed.

— Paul Needham (@ThePaulNeedham) July 23, 2016