Communist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani continues to receive backlash online, this time from victims of domestic violence. Recently, Mamdani provoked the ire of domestic violence victims by opposing police responding to domestic violence incidents.
According to the CDC, one in four women and one in ten men experience some form of domestic violence in their lifetime, ranging from stalking, mental abuse, to physical abuse, and life-threatening injuries involving knives and firearms. However, the Mamdani does not believe that armed police should respond to these situations.
“Police do not create safety… there are so many responsibilities we’ve given to police that, frankly, should have nothing to do with their departments… if somebody is jaywalking, if somebody is surviving, going through domestic violence—there are so many different, different situations that would be far better handled by people trained to deal with those specific situations, as opposed to an individual with a gun,” he said, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
It is highly unlikely, however, that marriage counselors are the best choice for first-time responders when a spouse is being held at gunpoint. According to Victims Rights Reform Council founder, Michelle Esquenazi, domestic violence is often a life and death situation. It remains unclear how mental health counselors and social workers would be able to respond to a spouse holding their partner captive at gunpoint or knifepoint – as Mamdani would want.
“There’s a lot of humans who are victims in the city of New York, and they need protection because sometimes it’s a matter of life and death,” Esquenazi told Fox News Digital. “They’re hiding in the bathroom with their children, and they need someone to come immediately.”
Esquenazi claims that Mamdani’s statements affect her personally, as the New York Police Department (NYPD) saved her life when her ex-husband attacked her while she was pregnant in 1993.
“I called 911, and they came running. They made sure that me and my children, and I was pregnant at the time, were safe. One of the officers took us to a back bedroom and made sure that we were calmed down and made sure that we had what we needed. They separated him from the situation immediately and essentially saved our lives,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mamdani’s comments align anti-police sentiments stoked by the George Floyd riots, resulting in calls for the defunding of entire law enforcement departments. Many deep blue cities have even changed their emergency response protocols for domestic violence, with some ending armed police response altogether.
Mamdani has repeatedly called for the defunding of the police, including proposals to delegate certain law enforcement responsibilities to the “Department of Community Safety.” However, in classic liberal subterfuge, Mr. Mamdani later denied pushing for the defunding of police, and even promised to work with them.
