With all this talk about common sense manifesting as legislation and law, you’d think Vermont would have gotten a handle on its rising homicide rate. Last year, they had 25, unprecedented for that tiny state in our big modern era, but a few more progressive laws later, and it’s up to 27 in 2023.
Vermont’s homicide rate last year continued an upward trajectory, topping numbers not seen in nearly three decades. While authorities are still trying to solve several open cases, they’re also trying to understand what’s behind the recent surge.
Vermont State Police say for the second straight year, homicide numbers topped 20.
“We’re prone to have some violence like all states do, but in a small state with a low population, it certainly has a greater effect on people when they hear about it,” said VSP Maj. Dan Trudeau.
2023 saw 24 homicide investigations involving a total of 27 deaths. The violence took place across across the state, from Brattleboro to the Northeast Kingdom.
Over the last seven years, the state’s homicide numbers ranged from 17 in 2017 to as low as 11 the following year. Since then, they have been on the rise. “We’ve typically been in the low teens to mid-teens, maybe for an annual sometimes lower than that. It’s certainly concerning,” Trudeau said.
Of the 27 homicides, more than half involved the use of a gun. And of the cases investigated by state police, seven are known to be drug-related, involving both suspects and victims from out of state.
I’m not sure what weapons were involved in the “other half” of the homicides, but rest assured, the brilliant minds doing business as the Vermont legislature will focus on disarming law-abiding gun owners to address this continued surge in criminal violence.
The Media could also use some retraining in the art of Democrat run decline. What might the readers think if you were to write that nearly half the homicides involved a weapon other than a firearm?
You still get the dig on guns, but it almost sounds like there was a rise in murders resulting from attackers who might have been stopped or deterred by the presence of a firearm. I admit I am stretching the potential and giving too much credit to the sort of people who pay attention to these outlets, but evidence and history suggest both the problem and the remedy.
Rising homicides will not stop no matter how many common-sense gun laws you pass. It’s not firearms. It is the culture. One-party Democrat rule results in higher taxes, declining quality of life and services, rising crime, misery, and more murder. Look anywhere they have had decades of uninterrupted rule. San Francisco, LA, Portland, Chicago, Atlanta, NYC, the District of Columbia, Baltimore, Detroit, or Memphis.
Vermont’s future is some version of that with a twist. The cities will lead the decline, which will spill into rural areas, and in a state as small as Vermont, there aren’t too many places to hide from it, especially after they take your guns away.
Vermonters must internalize the reality of prolonged Democrat decline and grasp its purpose. You can’t live with it or them. They will not leave you alone, nor will the effects of their policies. You have to try to take your state and local government back. Yes, that will make you a target, but better a target of left-wing hate than the rising violence that perpetuates in their wake.
Steve is a long-time New Hampshire resident, blogger, and a member of the Board of directors of The 603 Alliance. He is the Managing Editor and co-owner of GraniteGrok.com, a former board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, and a past contributor to the Franklin Center for Public Policy.
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Categories: Commentary, Crime
Could it possibly have anything to do with the liberal democrats in control of Vermont from the governor on down? And the fact that the east coast is dominated by democrats certainly is not helpful. Deny the inference, but it is the truth.
Most all homicides are drug related…so what actions do crime ridden cities take? Defund the police and enact Catch and Release…yep, that certainly solves the problem…and now these lawmakers who ascribe to the perversions want an increase in salaries?
“You still get the dig on guns, but it almost sounds like there was a rise in murders resulting from attackers who might have been stopped or deterred by the presence of a firearm.”
I’m glad that I have access to guns just to blow some holes in this terrible strawman. Let me assuage the fears of the readers here scared of their shadow and remind everyone that Vermont is STILL the safest state in America by a lothttps://www.businessinsider.com/safest-states-in-the-us-ranked-2023-11#:~:text=WalletHub%20released%20a%202023%20report,the%20highest%2C%20followed%20by%20Maine.
And Fox News reported Dec. 24th that Burlington and Rutland were among the most unsafe cities in the US. There exists a “study” or report to substantiate every position. Perhaps the point here is that political policy directly influences social problems- and the current political policies of Vermont’s leftists and elitists might just factor in on the current crime and murder statistics here in the peoples republic. Want more? look at Burlington crime statistics for 2010 thru 2019, then 2020 to today. What changed? Organized protests, with paid protestors demanding Defund the Police in 2020. Outside money flowing into political campaigns to elect socialist candidates and influence public policy.
Vermont’s murder rates and crime rates are directly attributable to political policy of the legislature, city councils, mayors and state’s attorney’s.
Do you mean the same Fox News that claimed that parts of England were under Sharia law, or the Fox News that paid $750 million to settle a defamation suit for lying about the election?
As for your point about Burlington (which I don’t believe) let’s apply that logic to Rutland which has been run by conservatives for almost all of my 45 years. How do you explain the “unsafeness” of conservative Rutland?
And anyone who’s head isn’t in the sand can see the change happening right in front of our eyes. Our neighboring states to the south were lost a while ago….Vermont doesn’t have to go the same way.
The virtue-signaling Vermont legislature prefers to follow it’s idolized state of California as it circles the drain.
In 2022 Vermont had the second highest murder rate in New England. That is from federal government statistics. Vermont is somehow more dangerous than also very blue and more diverse Massachusetts and Rhode Island. A lot of it seems to be driven by drugs and out-of-state traffickers who seem to have little trouble doing business in Vermont.
have a judge on your side, will make you feel better///
The Democrat Progressive solution is, as always, to take away the guns of peaceful law abiding citizens.
Disarming is their simple strategy of how to turn assertive, positive people who take the safety of their loved ones seriously and personally and convert them into passive, insecure weenies…to become part of the democrat voting base. Democrats hate do-it-yourselfers. They prefer a society of dependent and obedient underachievers.
Mr. MacDonald, I heartily agree with your assessment. I have been an Independent my entire life. Interestingly, or maybe not, in 2008 when I returned to New England from living out west for 20 years, I was apolitical. My neighbors out west considered me a liberal or at least a few did and three days later when I arrived in Vermont, my coworkers labeled me a conservative. How funny. I didn’t discover how conservative I was until 2016. And then I still didn’t pay attention very much.
Now, I will do what is necessary and legal to remove the Democrat/Progressive/Left/Marxists/Socialists from Vermont politics. I don’t expect to be able to do much on my own, but together we may accomplish much.
Respectfully,
Pam Baker
Actually the D P L M’s need to be removed from this 3rd rock from the sun.
Consider what this figure would be if it included “passed suddenly” onset myocarditis, late stage sudden cancer, and other explained away deaths increasing expeditionally in the past three years.
To appreciate just how dangerous and tragic restrictions on police enforcement has become in Democratic controlled urban environments read this horrible story from the City Journal
https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-unjust-pursuit-of-police-officer-sutton
When you, liberals relax the punishment on ” CRIME “, this is what you get, all the scum from the big cities coming up to Vermont to establish their illegal trade and
then eliminate their competition……………………. Vermont has fools in charge, but then again don’t complain as you voted these clowns in, Wake up !!