people were shot in the last month alone. a 277 at least percent increase over the same period of a year ago. murders this year have spiked

thank you, mr. president. especiallye to thank the families of the victims who have come here today. they have allowed us to how great this effort in the name of their loved ones. all ourlike to thank law enforcement colleagues from around the country, state, local, and federal. as the president said, the first duty of government is to protect the safety of our citizens. there here to explain initiatives to combat rising violent crime in a number of our cities. our goal is to help save lives. the principal danger to the lives of our inner-city communities is violent crime. the leading cause of the deaths for young black males is homicide. 7500year, approximately black americans are the victims of homicide. every one of those lives matter. was992, violent crime nationwide, was double what it is today. was at that time that federal law enforcement first turned its attention to this kind of violent crime. before that, the federal government really did not play that much of a role in...