Some residents of heavily Democratic cities are reconsidering approaches to public safety amid a spike in crime that has swept nearly every major metropolitan area in the country.
In unexpected places where liberal views on firearms and policing have dominated the conversation, a growing number of people are embracing gun ownership or backing measures that would boost law enforcement in response to the rise in violence.
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Polling shows voters are dissatisfied with the way the Democratic Party’s leaders have managed the crime wave.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll published earlier this week found that just 36% of voters approve of President Joe Biden’s handling of crime, while 61% disapprove.
On gun violence, 66% of voters disapprove of Biden’s performance, with 32% approving.
The loss of confidence in Biden’s ability to navigate the issue has come as the nation’s homicide rate hits historic highs. And the growing concern is pushing people in some of the country’s most prosperous neighborhoods to get creative about keeping their streets safe.
Applications for concealed carry permits have exploded in Los Angeles County, where voters went for Biden by more than 40 points.
Since late 2018, the LA County Sheriff’s Office approved roughly 2,100 concealed carry permit applications, compared to the less than 200 permit applications that were approved by the same office the four years prior, according to a report by a California-based journalist.
Michael Shellenberger, who spoke with a number of Beverly Hills residents for a report about the area’s changing attitudes toward crime, said fear has driven many liberals to revisit their ideas about guns and policing.
“They know they’re more afraid, and I think that they’re aware that it gives them new insight into what life is like when you don’t have enough police and enough security,” Shellenberger told the Washington Examiner.
“There’s just a lot of progressive buyer’s remorse right now.”
Voters in LA County approved a measure in November 2020 that would have steered tens of millions of dollars away from law enforcement and into other community measures in response to the nationwide movement calling for cities to defund their police departments.
A judge later paused the measure, arguing it could be unconstitutional.
LA city leaders this year have since moved to add millions back to the department’s budget in a near-complete reversal.
To the north, concealed carry permit applications appear to have climbed in Seattle.
The King County Sheriff’s Office noted on its website in October that it has seen a “tremendous number of individuals wanting to get their Concealed Pistol License (CPLs) at this time.” The office warned applicants that the high volume of interested residents could make actually scheduling an appointment “challenging.”
King County, which is home to Seattle, did not respond to a request for information about how many concealed carry permits it has received.
Seattle saw crime explode following the nationwide protests last year in response to racism within the law enforcement system. The city reported a 73% increase in homicides between 2019 and last year, with violence continuing at a high rate into 2021.
Faced with police shortages that have limited the ability of law enforcement to respond to rising crime, other upscale neighborhoods have weighed ways to beef up police in the absence of action from the city.
Bucktown, a wealthy neighborhood in the overwhelmingly liberal city of Chicago, has moved to hire private security to help address the area’s recent spike in crime levels, asking residents to pay a fee to cover the nearly $200,000 contract.
The efforts come as carjackings and other violent crimes have skyrocketed in Bucktown and surrounding neighborhoods
Biden won more than 80% of the vote across Chicago, carrying all of the city’s 50 wards, including the one in which Bucktown is situated, except one.
The residents of Bucktown, a largely white, affluent neighborhood in Chicago, earn a median income of nearly double that of the city as a whole.
An affluent neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia, has pushed to secede from the city over objections to the inadequacy of the police force.
Buckhead residents earlier this year began pursuing the idea of secession from Atlanta over concerns about rising crime.
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Homicides in Atlanta climbed 62% between 2019 and 2020 and have remained high throughout this year, hitting 100 for the year by August — ahead of the pace at which murders occurred last year.
Buckhead leaders sparred with city officials last month at a hearing over the idea of seceding, as opponents of the move argue the loss of tax dollars from Atlanta’s budget could make the crime situation far worse.
