First, the admission in the Left’s main clarion that more police help reduce violence would be welcome — but for the facts that (1) no sensible person ever doubted it, and (2) the NYT has to put it out there, not because it’s newsworthy, but because the Times has found that the Left’s demand to “defund the police” has been polling in the tank, and a little face-saving is called for.

Second, extrapolating “one of the biggest drops in murder” in 60 years from a a scant five months of statistics is, obviously, pushing it. But the Times needs to push it for a reason: Criminal justice “reform” has rough sledding when violent crime is high, so any reason at all to suggest it might be receding — although we can’t say just yet — needs to get hyped. …

[T]he Times just walks past the fact that for almost a quarter century (1991 – 2014), the murder rate significantly declined (see https://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm), even while gun ownership significantly increased. This fact overwhelmingly disproves the notion that gun ownership spikes the murder rate, but the Times, like virtually all other liberal organs, is simply going to blink away the truth when it’s ideologically incompatible.

[Bill has more, so be sure to read it all. The NYT analysis is designed to avoid the obvious: the explosion in crime is a direct result of the Floyd riots and a retreat from effective policing and prosecution in response to them. — Ed]