Well, here’s a bit of depressing news from the Big Easy – so far there have been 39 murders in New Orleans during the first two months of the year, compared to 33 at the same time in 2017.

There were three separate shootings on Mardi Gras, another on the parade route at Second and St. Charles that killed a man. And in a third, five people were shot in the Lower 9th Ward, two of which died.

“Well, certainly there’s an issue with guns and I think that’s really where the major problem occurs. If these rates continue we will have the highest homicide rate since what, 2011 where we had almost 200 homicides, so this will be over 200 if we stay at the current rate,” said Dillard University Criminologist Ashraf Esmail, Ph.D.

New Orleans Police say murders are up in the city nearly 18%. There’s been 39 homicides to date this year compared to 33 during the same time frame last year. What’s more? The NOPD believes a significant portion of the shootings they’ve seen since Mardi Gras week are linked to gang activity and retaliation.

“The key word you just mentioned, retaliation, we seem to be in a time where we retaliate very harshly to situations, you look at some of these things and you read about them and you’re wondering well how did that end up in a homicide, it doesn’t make any sense,” said Esmail.

As for the Mardi Gras shooting near Union and St. Charles, police say one person remains in the hospital.

“The victim that was struck in the head is still unconscious, we have not been able to talk to him, he’s still in ICU,” said Gernon.

While homicides are up, the NOPD says non-fatal shootings are down by 40% and armed robberies have decreased by 51%.

Don’t take NOPD’s claims about things like armed robberies and other property crimes at face value. Those are the stats which can be falsified, something NOPD’s been accused of before.

As to the murders, New Orleans has long had a gang problem. The city has never invested sufficient resources in a police force capable of controlling gang violence, largely because politicians lack the will to make New Orleans safe and in some cases the gangs constitute a constituency the politicians cultivate. That’s why the city’s elected idiots like Mitch Landrieu wasted time, effort and attention bulldozing historical landmarks rather than sweeping gangsters and criminals off the streets.

And it’s clear New Orleans’ leadership on crime is nonexistent. There is very little stopping that murder rate from climbing.