Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms blamed the city's crime wave on state Republicans lifting COVID-19 restrictions too early and lax gun laws.
In an interview with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle on Friday, the mayor attributed a 50 percent increase in homicides, in part, to lax gun laws, teenagers having too much free time on their hands and the state lifting its COVID-19 restrictions back in April.
'Remember, in Georgia, we were opened up before the rest of the country, even before the CDC said that it was safe for us to open,' Bottoms explained to Ruhle.
'So our night clubs and our bars remained open, so we had people traveling here from across the county to party in our city.'
Gov. Brian Kemp ordered the state to re-open from its COVID closure on April 20 last year, leading to an influx of visitors from Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina, where some restrictions remained in place, according to CNN.
Researchers at the University of Maryland discovered that out-of-state trips to the state from across the nation rose by 13 percent, or 62,441 trips a day following the decision.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms blamed the rising crime in the city on the state lifting its COVID restrictions too early and lax gun laws in an interview on Friday
The mayor also said the pandemic 'left a lot of people battered and bruised, not just physically, but also emotionally,' which led to an increase in personal disputes that could easily be exacerbated by guns.
'Until we deal with the systemic issues of gun violence in this country - how easily young people with mental illness can access guns in this country, I'm afraid that this will not be the last summer that we are having this conversation.'
She said her city is working with the FBI to clamp down on gun violence while starting a new summer program for teenagers to get them off the streets.
'We're looking for outside support and resources, working with all of our partners,' Bottoms sad, adding: 'We have really put a push to getting young people to work.
'We believe that getting at least 1,000 young people to work this summer will help, but there is so much to do.'
Atlanta has seen a rise in crime in every category over the past year
She noted that Atlanta is not the only American city experiencing a crime wave as the pandemic wanes, with shootings in New York City up about 68 percent over last year, according to the New York Post.
'If it were an Atlanta issue alone, then I'd know that there was something we weren't getting right,' the mayor said.
'But I'm talking to mayors and hearing from mayors in cities and large urban areas, we're all experiencing this, which means that we all have to work together to find a solution to this gun violence that is gripping our nation.'
In Atlanta, homicides were up 58 percent over last year, rapes were up 97 percent, robberies were up 2 percent, aggravated assault was up 26 percent, larcenies from vehicles was up 27 percent and auto theft was up 36 percent compared to last year, according to data from the Atlanta Police Department.
Shootings, meanwhile, were up 40 percent.
The mayor's comments come just one day after residents in the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood of
