Nation's Capital Declares Crime Emergency
Two groups of tourists were robbed at gunpoint on the National Mall, just hours after the police chief declared a crime emergency in the city in response to a string of violence that included the killing of a British activist.

The activist, Alan Senitt, was attacked in the Georgetown area on Sunday, his throat was slit and police say the attackers attempted to rape his companion. It was the 13th homicide in the city this month. Robberies are up 14 percent, and armed assaults have jumped 18 percent in the past 30 days.
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District of Columbia Police Chief Charles Ramsey declared a crime emergency in the city after Senitt, a volunteer for the potential presidential campaign of former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, was killed.

It is a terrible shame when the capital city of our great nation is more of a crime zone rather than a crown jewel. Despite being the seat of power (for the world!) Washington DC consistently ranks high in violent crime, among such distinguished cities as Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

There are multiple correllations I could draw between these cities: they all are urban centers, they are overwhelmingly liberal, and they all have an anti-gun attitude. Detroit and Philadelphia seem to be somewhat of an aberration in this fact, as Michigan and Pennsylvania are fairly firearm friendly - however, both cities are very anti-gun. Perhaps liberalism contributes more to high crime rates than gun-control? But I digress.

If I have any choice about it, I will never live in Washington D.C., or any other city that disarms me. It's one thing to have a high crime rate, but the ability to easily defend yourself. It's quite another to have a high crime rate, but having to rely on luck instead. Depending only on luck, or the police, leads to headlines like these:

14 deaths in 13 days

The surge in killings started just after midnight July 1 and has barely let up.
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There have been 14 homicides this month: Three on the 1st. Two on the 2nd. One each on the 4th and 5th. Two on the 7th. And one each day from July 8 through Wednesday.

As killings go, this is far from the District's worst stretch, nothing like the one starting in 1988 when the city averaged more than a homicide a day for eight of nine years.

Yet after a decade of declining numbers, this month's killings have so alarmed city officials that D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey declared a crime emergency.