With all this talk about common sense manifesting as legislation and law, you’d think Vermont would have gotten a handle on its rising homicide rate. Last year, they had 25, unprecedented for that tiny state in our big modern era, but a few more progressive laws later, and it’s up to 27 in 2023.
Vermont’s homicide rate last year continued an upward trajectory, topping numbers not seen in nearly three decades. While authorities are still trying to solve several open cases, they’re also trying to understand what’s behind the recent surge.
Vermont State Police say for the second straight year, homicide numbers topped 20.
“We’re prone to have some violence like all states do, but in a small state with a low population, it certainly has a greater effect on people when they hear about it,” said VSP Maj. Dan Trudeau.
2023 saw 24 homicide investigations involving a total of 27 deaths. The violence took place across across the state, from Brattleboro to the Northeast Kingdom.
Over the last seven years, the state’s homicide numbers ranged from 17 in 2017 to as low as 11 the following year. Since then, they have been on the rise. “We’ve typically been in the low teens to mid-teens, maybe for an annual sometimes lower than that. It’s certainly concerning,” Trudeau said.
Of the 27 homicides, more than half involved the use of a gun. And of the cases investigated by state police, seven are known to be drug-related, involving both suspects and victims from out of state.
I’m not sure what weapons were involved in the “other half” of the homicides, but rest assured, the brilliant minds doing business as the Vermont legislature will focus on disarming law-abiding gun owners to address this continued surge in criminal violence.
The Media could also use some retraining in the art of Democrat run decline. What might the readers think if you were to write that nearly half the homicides involved a weapon other than a firearm?
Related: Night Cap: Amid Rising Homicides, Vermont Says Its Red Flag Law is Model for the Nation
You still get the dig on guns, but it almost sounds like there was a rise in murders resulting from attackers who might have been stopped or deterred by the presence of a firearm. I admit I am stretching the potential and giving too much credit to the sort of people who pay attention to these outlets, but evidence and history suggest both the problem and the remedy.
Rising homicides will not stop no matter how many common-sense gun laws you pass. It’s not firearms. It is the culture. One-party Democrat rule results in higher taxes, declining quality of life and services, rising crime, misery, and more murder. Look anywhere they have had decades of uninterrupted rule. San Francisco, LA, Portland, Chicago, Atlanta, NYC, the District of Columbia, Baltimore, Detroit, or Memphis.
Vermont’s future is some version of that with a twist. The cities will lead the decline, which will spill into rural areas, and in a state as small as Vermont, there aren’t too many places to hide from it, especially after they take your guns away.
Vermonters must internalize the reality of prolonged Democrat decline and grasp its purpose. You can’t live with it or them. They will not leave you alone, nor will the effects of their policies. You have to try to take your state and local government back. Yes, that will make you a target, but better a target of left-wing hate than the rising violence that perpetuates in their wake.
