Crime rates nationwide have spiked as Democrat leaders adopt a laissez-faire attitude toward criminals in their cities.
This week, Washington, D.C. Judiciary and the Public Safety Committee held a public hearing on committee chair Brooke Pinto's proposed ACTIVE Amendment in an attempt to address the city's rising crime problem.
The act, which stands for "Addressing Crime through Targeted Interventions & Violence Enforcement," would make it easier to prosecute criminals for carjackings and increase penalties for several gun offenses.
The proposed bill would also require individuals on probation, supervised release, or parole following a conviction for a gun offense to be searched when they are in a public place.
"The violence we're seeing in our streets is not acceptable; it is not normal, and it cannot be left unaddressed," Pinto said.
As the District continues to see high numbers of homicides and carjackings, Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser has attempted to shift her soft-on-crime focus to a more disciplined stance for criminals as residents push back on the city's progressive police reforms and lenient punishments.
According to WUSA9 CBS, D.C. restaurants and businesses have begun fleeing the city in the wake of increased crime and lack of action as store owners face the threat of robberies nearly every day.
The owners of Brine Oyster and Seafood House took to social media to express their frustration with the city's Democrat leadership, saying that persistent violent crime has made it nearly impossible to survive.
"We've both been burglarized numerous times, both of my restaurants. Numerous times," The co-owner of Brine Oyster & Seafood House, Aaron McGovern, told Fox5. "So has everyone on the block numerous times. We started to see violence. Not just 'Oh, there's a gunshot a mile away.' We could hear the bullets. It's…the restaurant I'm looking at right now had four shootings there four weeks ago."
Property crime in the city has exploded by 25 percent since 2022, according to police data, while robberies have increased by a whopping 68 percent.
McGovern blamed liberal policies for the city's devastating crime problem. He called on Bowser to protect citizens, saying that people are beginning to move out of D.C. because it is no longer safe.