Opinion: Chuck Edwards pushes 'Asheville crime' while ignoring homicide at his McDonald's

Stoking fear by pushing that liberal cities — i.e. Asheville — are crime-ridden is a tried and true Republican scare tactic our congressional Rep. Chuck Edwards loves to deploy.

On Dec. 12, Edwards tweeted “With more than 40 cars broken into in Asheville on Sunday morning alone, it’s time that local leaders acknowledge that there is a crime problem in Asheville and Buncombe County,” conveniently whitewashing his home of Hendersonville of any such depravity.

Edwards attempted the same thing this summer when he held a “crime summit” for Asheville and Buncombe County as he hyperbolically claimed the area was at risk of turning into “another crime-ridden Chicago or San Francisco.” This was met by pushback, notably by Buncombe County Sherrif Quentin Miller who aptly said, “It’s irresponsible to have a conversation about public safety that is not rooted in data. To suggest that crime in Asheville or Buncombe County is anywhere near what is plaguing our largest cities makes for great politics but isn’t based in reality.”

I agree. I like reality. And I like data. And the reality is that while 40 cars broken into on one day isn’t nothing (my car got broken into last winter, and it sucked … RIP to my golf clubs), car break-ins are crimes of opportunity, and in this case, not violent, which is the type of crimes Edwards was supposedly addressing with his summit.

Nowhere in his pushing of this violent-crime narrative has Chuck Edwards acknowledged that on Oct. 9 a violent crime — the worst kind of violent crime — occurred right in one of his Hendersonville McDonald’s.

One of Edwards employees shot and killed a woman with a concealed handgun during his shift. He then fled and was apprehended — still with the gun — at a nearby elementary school.

On Oct. 10, Edwards tweeted that “151 people on the terror watchlist attempted to cross our southern border.”

So, the reality is that Chuck Edwards wants everyone to think Asheville is full of violent crime but conveniently doesn’t mention that a man on his family’s payroll killed a woman with a gun while working at a McDonald’s Edwards owns.

I’m not lovin’ it.

Let’s move on to data.

According to data compiled by Everytown for Gun Safety, North Carolina has the 19th-highest rate of firearm deaths in the country. On average, roughly five North Carolinians are killed by gun violence every day. Gun deaths and injuries cost North Carolina $10 billion annually, of which $118 million is paid by taxpayers.

The NC State Center for Health Statistics Child Fatality Task Force reports that N.C. children are 51% more likely to die from gun violence than the national average. A CDC study found that 30% of kids in North Carolina report they could obtain and be ready to fire a loaded gun within an hour without parental permission or assistance.

Data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive shows that as of early December, more than 40,000 Americans have been killed by gun violence this year. Additionally, there have been 632 mass shootings, defined by the Gun Violence Archive as an “incident in which four or more victims are shot or killed.” The mass shooting deaths alone have led to 597 deaths and 2,380 injuries.

But sure, Chuck. Keep tweeting about terrorists sneaking across the border. Data from Everytown for Gun Safety shows that the U.S. gun homicide rate is 26 times higher than other high-income countries, and FBI data shows that 54.3% of homicide victims knew their killer — this is a problem that’s coming from inside the house (or inside the McDonald's).

Moral of this story?

Edwards is more concerned with pushing political agendas and participating in political theatre than doing anything meaningful for North Carolinians because if he did want to address violent crime plaguing our district, he’d be lobbying for common sense gun laws, which Republicans refuse to consider, even though that’s what most voters want (according to a poll by Third Way and Republican polling firm GS Strategy Group found that regardless of party affiliation or gun ownership, North Carolinians want stricter gun control).

The Oct. 25 mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, where a man shot up a bowling alley and bar, shows our American reality: violent crimes can happen anywhere.

Like the Oct. 9 shooting in his restaurant, Chuck Edwards didn’t acknowledge what happened in Lewiston. But don’t worry, on Oct. 26, he tagged Taylor Swift in a tweet, asking when she was coming to WNC.

Someone should get coal in his stocking this year.

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Pat Brothwell is a former high school teacher, and current writer and marketing professional living and working in Asheville.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Chuck Edwards needs to focus more on addressing gun violence