作为解决政治敏感问题的努力的一部分，总统乔·拜登周一，他召集司法部长梅里克·加兰、执法部门领导和民选官员开会，讨论全国犯罪率上升的问题。
看了一眼会议顶端的加兰，拜登在开场白中承认，他多年来一直在努力解决这个问题。
“我们已经在这很久很久了。似乎我职业生涯的大部分时间都在处理这个问题。虽然没有放之四海而皆准的方法，但我们知道有些方法是可行的。第一项工作是阻止用于暴力犯罪的枪支流动，”拜登说。
“这包括打击追究流氓枪支经销商违反联邦法律的责任。它包括司法部创建五个新的打击力量来打击非法枪支贩运，”拜登说，但没有直接承认，如果没有参议院共和党人的支持，更有意义的枪支管制是不可能的。
虽然拜登表示，他将询问他召集的专家，他们认为还应该在联邦一级采取哪些措施来解决犯罪率上升的问题，但他没有直接向国会发表讲话，也没有向立法者施加任何压力，要求他们在国家一级采取行动。
白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)在早些时候的新闻发布会上预览了这次会议，并表示该组织将讨论拜登的“减少枪支暴力和暴力犯罪的全面计划”。
拜登上个月公布的计划以违法枪支经销商为目标，为警察部门提供枪支犯罪执法的联邦资源，并允许社区将数百万美元的联邦冠状病毒救济资金重新用于已被证明可以防止枪支暴力的项目。
普萨基说:“在会议期间，总统将讨论他的减少犯罪战略——该战略通过美国救援计划为城市和州提供历史性的资金，以及他们可以用来改善社区公共安全的一系列工具，包括支持社区暴力干预计划、夏季就业机会和其他行之有效的减少犯罪的方法。
普萨基说:“我将强调他致力于确保他们的州和法律以及地方执法部门拥有所需的资源和支持，以雇佣更多的警察，并投资于有效和负责任的社区警务。
值得注意的是，拜登没有采取与一些呼吁“解散警察”的进步人士相同的立场，这一立场在去年被许多人视为该国种族清算期间获得了支持。
尽管如此，共和党人还是抨击拜登“对犯罪手软”
普萨基说，拜登强调与当地领导人在这方面的合作。白宫的与会者包括华盛顿民主党市长穆里尔·布瑟和刚刚赢得纽约市民主党市长初选的布鲁克林区区长埃里克·亚当斯。与其他进步候选人不同，亚当斯并没有按照“解散警察”的议程竞选，而是将“公共安全”作为他对这座城市和整个民主党的首要任务。
“这位总统正在明确表态，”亚当斯在会后说，“他将重新定义公共安全的生态系统，这包括确定警察、学校、家庭、资源、就业的角色。”
“为什么过了这么久我们才听到枪声，家人每天晚上都在听和听?其他社区正在敲响警钟，黑人、棕色人种和穷人的社区正在被枪声惊醒，这位总统说这不是我们将要生活的美国，”他继续说道。
包括芝加哥警察局局长大卫·布朗在内的警察局长以及一名社区暴力干预专家也出席了白宫会议。
普萨基说，该组织将谈论联邦政府正在采取哪些措施来阻止犯罪中使用的枪支流动，“包括政府对故意非法出售枪支的经销商的零容忍政策，司法部打击枪支贩运的力量，以及白宫此前宣布的措施，如打击越来越多地用于暴力犯罪的幽灵枪。”
拜登会议召开之际，美国正面临暴力犯罪的上升，尤其是涉及枪支的犯罪。
根据一份报告研究国家新冠肺炎和刑事司法委员会今年早些时候发布的数据显示，与前年相比，2020年凶杀案激增了30%。
2021年前三个月，凶杀案数量与2020年同期相比增长了24%，与2019年初相比增长了49%，研究人员说。
Biden convenes session on gun violence amid surge in crime
As part of his effort to get out in front of a politically sensitive issue, PresidentJoe Bidenon Monday convened a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland, law enforcement leaders and elected officials to discuss rising crime rates across the country.
Glancing at Garland at the top of the meeting, Biden opened his remarks by acknowledging that he's been trying to solve this problem for many years.
"We've been at this a long time, a long time. Seems like most of my career I've been dealing with this issue. While there's no one-size-fits-all approach, we know there are some things that work. And the first of those that work is stemming the flow of firearms used to commit violent crimes," Biden said.
"It includes cracking down on holding rogue gun dealers accountable for violating the federal law. It includes the Justice Department creating five new strike forces to crack down on illegal gun trafficking," Biden said, without directly acknowledging more meaningful gun control is impossible without getting Senate Republicans to go along.
While Biden said he'd be asking the experts he assembled what else they believe should be done on the federal level to address rising crime rates, he did not directly address Congress or put any pressure on lawmakers to act on a national level.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki previewed the meeting at an earlier press briefing and said the group will discuss Biden's "comprehensive plan to reduce gun violence and violent crime."
Biden's plan, unveiled last month, targets law-breaking gun dealers, provides federal resources to police departments for gun-crime enforcement and allows communities to repurpose millions of dollars of federal coronavirus relief funding for programs proven to prevent gun violence.
"During the meeting, the president will discuss his crime reduction strategy -- strategy which gives cities and states historic funding through the American Rescue Plan, and a range of tools they can use to improve public safety in their communities including support for community violence intervention programs, summer employment opportunities and other proven methods to reduce crime," Psaki said.
"I'll underscore his commitment to ensuring their state and law and local law enforcement have the resources and support they need to hire more police officers and invest in effective and accountable community policing," Psaki said.
Notably, Biden has not taken the same stance as some progressives who've called to "defund the police," a position that gained traction last year during what many deemed to be a racial reckoning in the country.
Still, Republicans have attacked Biden for being "soft on crime."
Psaki said Biden is stressing partnerships with local leaders on the effort. Attendees at the White House included Washington Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who just won New York's City Democratic mayoral primary. Unlike other progressive candidates, Adams did not run on a "defund the police" agenda but instead cited "public safety" as his top priority for the city and Democrats in general.
"This president is making it clear," Adams said following the meeting, "he's going to redefine the ecosystem of public safety, and that includes identifying the role of police, schools, families, resources, employment."
"Why did it take so long before we heard the gunshots that families were listening and hearing every night? Other communities are waking up the alarm clock, communities of Black, brown and poor people are waking up to gunshots and this president says this is not the America we're going to live in," he continued.
Police chiefs, including David Brown, superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, along with a community-based violence intervention expert, also attended the White House meeting.
Psaki said the group would talk about what the federal government is doing to stem the flow of guns used in crimes, "including the administration’s zero-tolerance policy for dealers who willfully sell guns illegally, the Department of Justice’s gun trafficking strike forces, as well as previous steps the White House has announced like cracking down on ghost guns, which are increasingly used in violent crimes."
Biden's session comes as the country faces a rise in violent crime, particularly in those involving firearms.
According to astudyreleased earlier this year by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, homicides spiked by 30% in 2020 compared to the year before.
And in the first three months of 2021, the number of homicides increased by 24% compared to the same period in 2020 and by 49% compared to the start of 2019,the researchers said.
