As violence continues to plague our nation, we shouldn't be surprised.
We've had almost two years of entire municipalities calling for the defunding of police, while engaging in demoralizing rhetoric and accusatory language labeling our heroes in blue as racists and hate mongers.
This was exacerbated by the progressive liberal's dream to do away with the "racism" of requiring bail for offenders taken into custody and the replacement of legitimate legal minds in the prosecutor's office with activists who care more about protecting criminals than victims.
The progressive liberal movement was embraced by the mainstream media, and even most moderate Democrats, as the cries of racism and brutality rang out from coast to coast.
No one ever bothered to look at the actual statistics; in the wake of George Floyd, everyone wearing the blue, tasked with keeping us safe, was a villain and had to be stopped.
Did it matter that George Floyd was already beginning to suffocate from an overdose of Fentanyl when he was first handcuffed?
Of course not.
The media had the perfect narrative and the summer of violence spun out of control.
This writer is making no attempt to defend the arresting officer (Derek Chauvin) who has since been brought to justice, but we can't ignore the spate of violent acts that went unpunished in the aftermath of the Minneapolis, Minnesota events either.
We had individuals blockading the doors of a courthouse with court officers inside and attempting to burn it down; that isn't just arson, it's attempted murder.
Widespread looting resulted in tens of millions of dollars of property destroyed.
Officers were pelted with bricks and frozen water bottles, spit at and cajoled into reacting, but all were given orders to stand down.
How much can an officer take? How far is too far?
Well that answer should have been obvious and now it is: We have record numbers of retirements and resignations in almost every police department in every major city.
Law enforcement recruiting now stands at an all-time low.
What do all these departments have in common? You guessed it, they are all in progressive, liberal run cities like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Don't be fooled by the Democrats feckless calls for more gun control, as all of these major cities already have the most aggressive gun restrictions in the nation.
The fact is we have a violence problem in America, not a gun problem.
The overwhelming majority of shootings in Chicago are with guns illegally possessed, operated by street thugs not — by law abiding, licensed firearms owners.
The other harsh reality is that many violent acts don't involve guns at all; whether it's a stabbing or a brutal rape, all of these terrible crimes are up across the board and becoming more prevalent. It's easy to just call out for more gun control and it's a quick press and photo op for the politically expedient, and other do-nothing political hacks.
It's much harder to actually solve the problem.
We can have less crime in America, if we first stop demonizing police officers.
Concurrently, we must bar advocates from becoming prosecutors and judges.
Additionally, we should strengthen the training for everyone involved with children — from teachers to school safety officers so they can spot behavioral red flags and provide the vital assistance these children need.
We finally have to deal with mental illness on the streets of our cities.
Allowing the homeless to remain so, begging for their survival is not an answer; it most certainly is not humane. We also have to study why today's youth is so prone to violence including the impacts of internet and video games featuring shootings and random acts of violence.
This means we need to dig in and discern the patterns of behavior between all these criminal acts resulting in the deaths of unsuspecting individuals, most of whom are hardworking family people just trying to go about their business and daily lives.
Yes, we need to get tougher on career criminals that are in and out of jail as if it were a discount outlet with a revolving door.
There is no simple remedy; there are no easy answers.
Rather what is needed now, more than ever, is a long-complicated series of actions that need to be taken to reduce the bloodshed in our beloved country.
But remember, as long as we have a progressive agenda, one being pushed by our media, schools, municipalities and in the White House, we can expect more of the same.
Unfortunately, and tragically.
May God help us all. May God bless the United States of America.
Michael Grimm is currently in Ukraine as a Newsmax correspondent. He is a former U.S. congressman who represented New York's Staten Island, and a former FBI agent. Read Michael Grimm's reports — More Here.