The real danger on the New York subways is crime – not COVID

A madman tried commit a massacre on the N train on Tuesday. Thankfully, no one was killed, although dozens of victims will now forever bear the physical and psychological scars of his evil deeds.

as so often The New Yorkers rose to the challenge of the crisis. A stunning image, taken just minutes after the attack, shows wounded people squirming on the subway platform while fellow passengers tend to their injuries. As in a scene from Mariupol, citizen paramedics make improvised tourniquets out of hoodies to prevent bleeding from femoral arteries. A woman offers comfort to a suffering victim who is clutching his waist in pain.

It is also striking that everyone in the picture is wearing a mask, as is still required in the transit system. On the one hand, the masks show how New Yorkers, despite their well-known belligerence, are willing to put up with certain inconveniences in the interests of civic harmony. We live in tight corners and practice leniency and tolerance. And if it makes some neurotics or hypochondriacs happy when everyone on the subway wears a mask or a cloth on their face, fine, then let’s play along.

But what sounded like a good idea for everyone in March 2020, when we still didn’t know what COVID was, has been hailed by the progressive left as a multifaceted tool of social control and an expression of political orthodoxy. Officials and other officials have been busy pushing mask regulations that no longer make sense from an epidemiological perspective. Not to minimize the severity of COVID for the elderly or vulnerable, but if you are under 65 and vaccinated and boosted your chances of becoming very ill and dying from COVID are at this point infinitesimal.

But your chances of being attacked on the subway are unfortunately much higher.

Our leaders continue to deny this fact. Even in the wake of a mass subway shooting, our local prog elite snapped self righteous masked selfies for social media, seemingly unaware that our city is falling apart.

During the pandemic, the subways became a rolling annexe of the homeless shelter/psychiatric complex. Violent crime has increased at a breathtaking, unprecedented rate. Citywide, the homicide rate increased by a staggering 47% in 2020. But the rise in violent crime on the subways relative to ridership has been shockingly up 168% in 2021.

Historically, the city has seen a subway murder or two every year. There have now been 16 subway homicides since March 2020, when aspiring fashionista Rudolph Dunning made the mistake of letting Ramziddin Trowell through an emergency exit. For his efforts, allegedly Trowell stabbed Dunning.

The brutality of the underground violence has left New Yorkers stunned. January New Yorker Michelle Go was pushed in front of a moving train and allegedly killed by one seriously mentally ill man who have been in and out of prisons and hospitals for decades. On a February weekend saw eight separate subway attacksfollowed by a brutal attack in which a woman was pushed down the stairs at Queens Plaza and then hit in the skull with a hammer.

Also in February, a violent criminal with a history of dozens of arrests smeared his own feces on a woman’s face who rejected his clumsy advances. When arrested, he scoffed that he would soon be free. He was right.

Meanwhile, our helpless representatives in Albany have “reformed” the pre-trial detention laws, preventing many criminals from being released on bail or otherwise being held incarcerated. As a result, habitual villains are allowed to run wild. Recent efforts to tighten no-bail laws have been cosmeticsand ensure these predators continue to harass and terrify New Yorkers.

The progs who run New York like to insist that their failures in crime, poverty, education and housing have been framed on them. Instead of facing real problems, they take absurd, pointless measures like mask requirements.

While New Yorkers have done everything to protect us from harm, our leaders have done nothing to protect us from the scourge of the mentally ill homeless on the subways. They allowed us to become sitting ducks.

It’s time for New Yorkers to force our ruling class to end their caring and “safety” charade and deal with the real damage that is destroying our city.

Seth Barron is the Editor-in-Chief of The American Mind. His book on the left’s war against local control is forthcoming.