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Senator Larson Criticizes President Trump over National Guard Deployment
One of Milwaukee’s Democratic lawmakers is blaming gun laws and Republican governors for high murder rates in some cities.
Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, on Thursday once again criticized President Trump’s talk of sending National Guard troops to Chicago by saying the problem is not Democratic mayors, but rather Republican governors.
"States with Republican Governors tend to have higher homicide rates than Democrat-led states," Larson wrote.
He didn't share which list of top-homicide-rate cities he is basing his claim on, but he added "cities with 13 of the top 20 homicide rates in the U.S. are in Republican-led states, including 8 of the top 10."
There are a number of lists that have been published recently that share the cities with the highest homicide rates, and Larson is correct that some of them are in Red states.
However, a list published by Issues & Insights noted that while some cities like Birmingham, Alabama or Indianapolis may be in states with Republican governors, nearly all of the high-homicide-rate cities have Democrat mayors.
"It doesn’t matter where these cities are located. If Democrats run them, it’s more likely than not that residents are stuck with local prosecutors who won’t prosecute crimes, police departments that are understaffed and demoralized, criminals who, if they are caught at all, get released on cashless bail, and political machines that keep these Democrats in power, decade after miserable decade,” the piece noted.
Milwaukee is on the Issues & Insight list, it is ranked 13th on the list of cities with the highest homicide rates. Milwaukee, according to the list, had a homicide rate in 2024 of 23.9 per-100,000 people.
“These states also tend to have more lax gun laws and higher rates of gun ownership,” Larson added. “It's pretty simple - lots of guns plus lax regulation equals higher murder rates.”
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