Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., says that New York City's runaway crime, as the recent viral video of a man wielding an ax inside a McDonald's last week attests, might have played out the same way in parts of crime-addled, Democrat-controlled Colorado.
Colorado "decriminalized fentanyl" when those caught are carrying "4 ounces or less. That's incredible," Buck told Newsmax on Tuesday while appearing on "John Bachman Now."
Buck, who was a criminal prosecutor for 25 years before entering politics, says the New York City man in question "continued to taunt people with an ax. That's not criminal mischief — that's assault."
The ax-wielding man had apparently been jumped by a group of people at the same McDonald's. After absorbing a number of punches that were caught on film, the man then grabbed a small ax from his bag.
Instead of leaving the scene, though, the man began breaking glass and tables inside the McDonald's, while exchanging heated words with those who initially punched him.
"What's he doing with an ax?" Buck rhetorically asked, before saying there are some "serious problems in New York City" right now.
Big-city crime seems to be a major campaign topic before the November midterm elections. During Buck's interview, Newsmax posted a graphic of a new Emerson College poll, where Chicago residents ranked crime as their greatest concern by an overwhelming margin.
Also, 62% of Chicago-based respondents say crimes have been more prevalent in 2022, compared to last year.
Violent crimes in Buck's home state of Colorado are also a growing concern, but the congressman says it's not an epidemic situation in conservative-driven areas.
"Look at the red cities and red counties in Colorado; we really are safe," says Buck, who oversees the state's 4th District, which covers the large swath of land east of Denver and Colorado Springs.
However, for the Democrat-controlled areas of Colorado, Buck says if someone commits a nonviolent crime, "they'll be back on the streets" right away, because left-leaning politicians don't want to extensively punish criminals.
Buck says that indifference might also be true with Colorado's policies for adjusting to the legalized sale and consumption of marijuana.
From Buck's standpoint, state officials haven't done a good enough job of "tracking the relationship" between legalizing marijuana and its effect on more residents getting pulled over by police for driving under the influence, or contributing to more young people entering drug rehabilitation centers.
Colorado officials need to better understand "if marijuana serves as a 'gateway drug' to [more] burglaries, robberies, car thefts," says Buck, who's up for reelection this November.
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