Washington D.C. has passed 100 annual homicides earlier in the year than at any point since 2003. The “grim milestone”, as Mayor Muriel Bowser put it, was reached with a spate of deadly shootings across Tuesday night and the early hours of Wednesday morning, one of which involved a woman in her sixties.
Overall, homicides are 22 percent higher than they were at this point in 2022, and on course to surpass 200 by year’s end for the third year in a row.
Prior to 2021, annual homicides had not hit the 200 mark since 2003. In 2020, this mark was just barely missed, with homicides reaching what was then a 15-year high at 198.
The news comes despite the American capital having some of the most stringent gun control laws in the country. Indeed, firearms offenses have only increased in recent years, and are currently up by 40 percent on 2017.
The Government of the District of Columbia is dominated from top to bottom by the Democrats, with a Democrat mayor and Democrat politicians representing every one of its Council wards.
