(202) 748-8002. one of the hearings that took place last month when it comes to the topic of violent crime took place in the senate and it was during that, you can find out on c-span, the senate judiciary chairman dick durbin at that hearing talked about, when it comes to violent crimes, connecting it to issues concerning gun control. [video clip] >> this weekend in the city of chicago, 20 people were shot. 20. you know what happens in our hometown. four of them died. across the nation every day we lose on average 109 american lives to gunfire. 109. suicides, domestic violence shootings, accidental shootings, homicides. another 200 americans are injured by guns. the numbers are sobering. and each number is an individual

person. a loved one, a neighbor, a friend, a husband, a father. a son or a daughter. we have seen too many desperate trips to the emergency room, too many funerals, too many families and communities scarred forever by gun violence and we have come to accept it as a part of them -- a part of american life. disproportionately it affects families of color. but no one is immune. host: cory holder says this morning that crime in the immediate community has been rather low, saying he lives in a decent neighborhood thankfully, but that statewide and nationwide the trend was due to the pandemic and its psychological effects, depending on the area that you live in. from laura on facebook, laura moore, drug issues are causing problems in the city.

lou senior says that we don't threaten to defund the police in my town. a poster from rogers, these are the facebook postings when it comes to this topic and you can post yours as well. from aretha in youngstown, ohio. tell us about what you are seeing there were you live. caller: i'm not really seeing a whole lot of crime. if you are busy, you got a job and things like that, it doesn't touch you as much. i think it's more on the street level, where there is a lot of despond and see -- despondency and things like that, on employment. host: do you think that is because of things economically in youngstown? does that have a contributive factor to lower crime, or at least the crime you are not seeing? caller: that is the correct -- that is correct, yes.

if you are working you don't have time to be out there committing crime. host: tom is next from south carolina. tom, good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i just wanted to say, i don't really know in my county that i live in in south carolina, they do not publish too much about how much crime they do have. i live in lexington county over in the neighboring county of bridgeport where we get a lot of reports of crime over there and i just don't understand why my county is not, we are not being told, the citizens are not being told how much crime we may have. i think i agree with the lady that just spoke. we are not going to know something unless people tell us what is going on. as long as it is silent, we are just not going to know.

we just don't know unless they tell us. host: the two counties that they describe, are there big differences economically, are they similar in that front. caller: i do agree that the factors that you have laid out have played a part, the fact that we had a pandemic and haven't been told truthfully about how that really has affected us economically, socially, although other factors play a part in how much crime is

committed. it just goes hand-in-hand, one way or the other. host: this is william in middletown connecticut saying lots of cars are found stolen in other cities if they are found at all. there is an organization known as the national commission on covid-19 criminal justice, putting together a report looking at trends in crime as well, highlighting homicides rising into thousand 20. they say that the magnitude of the increase is deeply troubling and that rates of homicide are below historical highs. 2020, 11 .4 deaths per 1000 residents in sample cities and in 1995 it was 19.4 per 100,000 residents. adding that aggravated gun assault rates in 2020 were 6%

and 8% higher respectively than the 2019 robbery rates declining 9%. you can find that at their website, the covid-19 council on see.org. when it comes to the society in your area, crime and how it impacts the area, janice is calling us from collier, tennessee. caller: i was born in memphis, tennessee. over the years ever since they changed the legislation and the laws, people are getting killed every day in drive-by shootings. little children's lives have been taken by stray bullets. people get getting attacked. people with children in their cars. another thing, sir. what people are not talking about, marsha blackburn, it's republican citizens not mentioning crime at all. they are not saying anything about this crime.

host: you said changes to the legislation. what did you mean by that? caller: i will be honest with you, we have got a flak in this organization and crime has been a. the reason i'm telling you this, sir, it's the truth. host: you said it was legislation that changed. what legislation are you talking about? caller: with marsha blackburn, you can carry the guns out of their and people can carry guns out here now. but why do you want those big army guns used for killing in war? people carry them around. you can see them on the back of their trucks. host: that's jana in tennessee. we will go now to nick in florida. good morning. caller: did we change topic from

gun control to something else? host: its overall increase in crime and how it might impact your community. caller: first of all, gun control doesn't work. when you take away guns, only the criminals have guns. second, because of the second amendment, the reason we have guns in the first place is to protect ourselves against the to radical government that we are currently starting to become, with the democratic party. so, therefore if you get rid of the guns, i mean have you seen black lives matter? that crime wave was financed by the democrats. host: what's going on in florida as far as you're concerned with crime? caller: there have been outbreaks of crime because of the lacking in-laws. of course the covid had some effect. when you have people that don't have money, you have higher crime. and with that, if you don't have a way to defend yourself and

then you want to defend, defund the cops, what's going to protect us? who is going to protect us from the people that don't care about the laws and don't come here with guns and start picking people off? who will there be? no cops because you don't want to pay for them? no guns, we can't defend ourselves. who is going to be here to make sure that we can end up living? host: that's nick in florida talking about defunding the police like at the senate hearing that we showed you from dick durbin. it was also the top republican community on that, chuck grassley, talking about defunding police in certain communities and here's what he had to say. [video clip] >> we can't reduce violence without a professional well trained and fully funded police force including gun violence. the rallying cry last summer was

to defund the police. cities that follow that advice saw a rapid spike in violent crime. many were forced to refund the police. this happened in minneapolis and in portland. maybe other cities as well. statistics show that the murder rate in 2020 increase the most significantly in june, when the rioters were on the march and policymakers forced people into retreat. evidence suggests that june 2020 spiked in homicide and other gun related crimes are related to less policing or d policing. this progressive toll may have translated to 1268 additional deaths in 2020. on the other hand efforts to combat violent crime like the

bill barr operation legend resulted in an additional 6000 arrests nationwide, including nearly 500 for homicide and hundreds of illegal firearms seized. sadly, it does not appear that the department of justice now intends to continue this successful initiative. i hope that violent crime will be a top priority for our attorney general, garland, and for president biden. host: that was the hearing and you can still find that on c-span. rise of crime in 2020 as being what it by several organizations and we are asking how it might impact your community. (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 four mountain and pacific time zones. (202) 748-8002 if you, if you want to call in and you are a member of law enforcement. you heard the senator talk about homicide. if you go to the website in 2019

they have a highlight of the murder weapons used when it comes to murder victim by weapon . handguns topping the list in 2019 with 6368 cases there. that is followed by a category known as firearms stated as 3200 plus with knives the cutting instrument following that and other weapons after that, personal weapon such as hands, fist, and feet. blunt objects, rifles at 300 624 cases in 2019 followed by shotguns, narcotics, asphyxiation, fire, and strangulation. those are the statistics as far as weapons used for 2019. marion johnson in tennessee, you are next. marion, johnson city, hello. hello. -- caller: hello.

i saw your little bit with dick durbin. he should be ashamed to be there. kick that garbage out, with what's happening in chicago. it only gets worse, lawmakers do nothing about it and i think that the crime rise has a lot to do with leadership. they sit there and they talk, talk, talk in do nothing. we have a lot worse things than gun control. the gun control that has been passed, there you go. they need to take a look at themselves. leadership stinks. host: as far as crime and johnson, tennessee, how would you characterize it? is it a concern? caller: we do not have a lot of crime. we have good leadership in local lawmakers that stay and talk about it. we have some, but it is not that great. it has been going on in the same

cities for years and years. then you want to defund the police. the lawmakers in this country, they think they have a problem, they sit and talk and talk with their little committees and all of that crap and things get worse and worse. host: well, let's talk about the situation in johnson city. you said leadership is the reason you don't see a lot of crime. tell me specifically how. caller: we have a good police force and the people that ran the police force and our mayors do their job and do what they are elected to do and they run the city properly. we are a college town, also. host: missouri is where shirley lives. good morning, surely. go ahead. caller: yes, i'm calling because i live in st. louis, missouri. in st. louis, missouri, the crime rate, the murder rate is highest in the united states.

i don't understand why congress doesn't do something about gun rights. it seems that every state has an open carry law. it just seems like nobody, they've all got ak-47, these big guns. they need to be banned across the united states. as so far as the united states is concerned on voting laws, i think we ought to have the same voting laws across the united states. host: back to crime there were you live in florida. what do you think is the main cause? caller: because of gun laws, ok? nobody knows what we have had babies killed.

and now you can carry your gun on the metro link. if you have a license you can carry the gun. something needs to be done. nationwide as so far as gun violence is concerned, people keep saying that people, gun scale. people don't kill, people kill people ok? and i'm very upset myself. we need to do something across the united states. host: that is surely in missouri. -- shirley in missouri. highway driving never been so risky, according to this person. from joan in minnesota, adding that in her community, and in minneapolis and st. paul, it is

higher and she no longer goes to the cities for shopping and entertainment. adding that it is too dangerous. highlighting the shooting deaths of 2020, the analysis gunshot industries 40,000 to nearly 40,000 in 2017 and that is just some of the statistics >> we will leave this here and take you over to live