Five teens were arrested by police in Delaware in a car belonging to Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) hours after she was carjacked at gunpoint in South Philadelphia, according to Fox News.
Published reports say Delaware State troopers staked out the empty Acura SUV after it was spotted near the Christiana Mall in Newark, and converged to make arrests after the five suspects appeared and climbed into the vehicle. They tried to flee, according to WPVI News, but police rounded them up.
All suspects are residents of Wilmington.
Scanlon became a member of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force soon after arriving in Congress, and she reportedly has co-sponsored “several pieces of legislation to close loopholes, improve background checks, ban assault rifles, and also managed the debate on the House floor to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.”
The Scanlon case came less than 24 hours after another Democrat lawmaker—Illinois State Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford and her husband—were the victims of an armed carjacking Tuesday evening in a community a few miles west from Chicago. Several shots were fired, according to published reports, but neither Lightford or husband Eric McKennie were injured.
The irony of both cases may seem like karma because both Scanlon and Lightford supported “police reform” legislation. Fox News is reporting that at least some Democrats who called for defunding police last year are reversing course following a sharp rise in violent crime.
But now the question is whether either experience will result in calls for more gun control, affecting people who didn’t commit either crime.
According to the Daily Mail, carjackings are up “about 32 percent” this year over the same time last year.
Indeed, crime is up in many areas around the country. Just days ago, Democrat San Francisco Mayor London Breed launched a tirade against crime in her city, hurling an expletive as perpetrators who, she said, are destroying the city. She vowed to step up policing in the Tenderloin district of the city.
Many believe crime has gone up because police numbers have gone down. The ‘Defund Police’ movement has caused many departures from some police departments, often due to lateral transfers to other agencies or simply to retirement. Police in many agencies haven’t felt supported by their local politicians.
Still, when it comes to affixing blame for increases in gun-related crime, often guns get the blame rather than the perpetrators.
