While many New Yorkers found the high number of Fourth of July shootings and ensuing rash of violence deeply disturbing, Mayor Bloomberg says that’s just how this city celebrates our nation’s birth. “The last four years have been the four safest in city history, but the week when the Fourth of July falls has been bloody every single year,” said Bloomberg rep Stu Loeser. “We’ve brought crime down lower and lower, but it’s important to note that after there were 18 homicides in the Fourth of July week in 2011, 18 in 2010, and 11 in 2009, each year ended up at or near historic murder lows.” By comparison, in the past week there were sixteen killings in eighteen incidents. Let’s try to make 2013 the year we stick to maiming ourselves with illegal fireworks.
