(ConservativeSense.com) – Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and the city council are at odds regarding how the city should respond to the rising crime rates and gun violence. The nation’s capital, like most major cities throughout the country, underwent a drastic increase in criminal activity and violence over the past two years.
On Tuesday, the city council voted 12-1 to override the mayor’s veto of a rewrite of the D.C. criminal code. Earlier this month, Bowser vetoed the measure because she opposed some aspects of the rewrite, including reducing maximum penalties for certain offenses, such as carjacking, robbery, and so on, claiming these penalty reductions send “the wrong message.”
Members of the council are frustrated with the mayor’s stance and believe her objections are minuscule issues that could have been addressed sooner if her team was more involved in the process of rewriting the criminal code. One council member called the veto “political theater.”
Meanwhile, as the two sides square off, homicides in Washington, D.C. have gone up four years in a row, with 227 murders occurring in 2021, the highest amount since 2003. 2020 was also a tough year for the city after the death of George Floyd, with violent and destructive protests erupting in the city resulting in Former President Donald Trump being sent into a bunker and the burning of the historic St. John’s Church.
Mayor Bowser fought with the D.C. city council before for pushing to hire more police officers, and is viewed by groups like Black Lives Matter as a defender of the police department with whom they are at odds.
Now with a Republican-controlled House, they may get involved in the dispute, as any law voted for approval by the city council must undergo a 60-day review period. The House can change or even override laws within that period before the new code takes effect in October 2025.
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