At least 20 mayors of American cities apparently understand that the world can be a dangerous enough place to require armed security—for them. Yet, these same mayors have worked to defund the police in their own cities.
Armed security for me, but not for thee?
That’s the inevitable conclusion one has to draw from an article published in the Daily Mail, which noted that, “At least 20 mayors from cities that have called to defund the police enjoy the perks of private security at a cost to taxpayers of millions of dollars a year.”
One example is San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who took $120 million in funding from her city’s police department and redirected it to new and existing programs.
“San Francisco spent $12.4 million to protect Breed between 2015 and 2020, with the bill rising from $1.7 million in 2015 to $2.6 million last year,” reported the Daily Mail.
In another example, in 2020 the Baltimore City Council voted to eliminate $22 million from the police budget, supported by then-City Council President Brandon Scott, who is now the mayor of Baltimore.
“This is just the beginning, and I intend to continue leading this process to redirect our public dollars and reimagine public safety in Baltimore,” said Scott at the time.
Other examples where taxpayers fund police details or private security for officials in cities where law-enforcement budgets are being reduced or are under attack include:
- Chicago: $3.4 million in 2020 for various city officials
- New York City: $358,000 in 2020 alone for Mayor Bill de Blasio's failed presidential run
- San Diego: $2.6 million in 2021 for Mayor Todd Gloria, city council meetings, and for building security
- Denver: $746,743 in 2020 for Mayor Michael Hancock
Many of these same mayors are members of the Bloomberg-funded Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG).
As the NRA-ILA noted, MAIG “was created in 2006 to lobby for gun control, including increased restrictions and bans on completely legal firearms.”
NRA-ILA also reported that political elites receiving taxpayer-funded security, while police forces are being reduced, was not limited to mayors.
“On June 26, [2021] the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to advance a measure to disband the Minneapolis Police Department. The move to defund the police received significant criticism from leaders of the communities that most rely on the police department. Being charitable, the left-leaning Minneapolis Star Tribune described the city council’s proposal as ‘not well thought out.’”
But Minneapolis taxpayers spent $63,000 on private security for three council members who voted for the defunding law enforcement!
Still, when it comes to pure hypocrisy, big-city mayors have few peers on this issue. Consider Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Though she eliminated 600 jobs from Chicago’s police department—and the Chicago judicial system is notorious for going very soft on criminals—Lightfoot regularly blames the Second Amendment for the city’s out-of-control crime and drug gang related shootings in her city.
At the same time, according to NRA-ILA, “Lightfoot has gone to great lengths to ensure her personal safety. The city has constructed what some locals are referring to ‘Fort Lori’ around the mayor’s entire neighborhood,” with the Chicago Police Department effectively banning protesters from demonstrating on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s block. The police have orders to arrest anyone refusing to leave.
NRA-ILA said it best: “Through their actions, these politicians have made clear that they are willing to sacrifice the safety of their constituents, but are unwilling to compromise their personal safety in the process. Such a flagrant breach of the social contract forfeits whatever perceived moral authority they may have claimed in order to control how their constituents provide for their own defense.”
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