U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- Seattle is the home of Amazon’s corporate headquarters, employing more than 80,000 people. It is also one of the nation’s epicenters of crime, rioting, and looting that erupted in 2020 which remains a concern today.
The online sales behemoth that embraces gun control and defunding police is now witnessing the effects of those policies. Amazon is moving employees out of a downtown corporate building over concerns of rising crime.
“Given recent incidents…, we’re providing employees currently at that location with alternative office space elsewhere,” an Amazon spokesperson recently told media. “We are hopeful that conditions will improve and that we will be able to bring employees back to this location when it is safe to do so.”
To understand how the neighborhood became so violent as to force them to relocate their employees to safer confines, Amazon may want to look in the mirror.
Gun Control Donations
Amazon has the largest employment footprint in Seattle, nearly doubling up locally-based Starbucks, and employees are active in campaign giving. This includes donating to gun control groups and elected officials who support restricting the Second Amendment.
Locally, the online delivery giant was the single largest source of donations to former Democratic Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. All told, employees donated more than $350,000 to a group supporting her mayoral campaign. Durkan, of course, supported defunding police and gun control. She applauded the city council’s approval of her budget that slashed nearly $20 million from the police budget.
“I applaud the City Council for taking a more deliberate and measured approach to the 2021 Seattle Police Department budget…,” the mayor said after the council approved her budget by an 8-1 vote.
The one “No” vote wasn’t in protest of cutting police budgets though. It was a vote by Seattle City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant, who wanted 50 percent of the budget eliminated. According to donation analysis, contributions from Amazon employees helped Councilmember Sawant overcome a recall election effort to remain in office.
Mayor Durkan turned down running for re-election, an unsurprising move when the city’s crime spiraled out of control. Current Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell ran and won the election on a message of law and order and increasing police.
“Part of that plan requires more officers. The depleted staffing we see today does not allow us to react to emergencies and crime with the response times our residents deserve,” Mayor Harrell said. Online searches for Amazon contributions for Harrell’s campaign come up bare.
Summer of CHAZ
Washington State is already home to some of the nation’s strongest gun control policies and Seattle has even stricter local ordinances. None seemed to matter in the summer of 2020. Seattle earned an infamous crime hotspot because of CHAZ, or Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. Police and first responders were prohibited from entering the zone and crime was rampant, including murder.
Notably, a video surfaced of a criminal named “Raz” handing out semiautomatic rifles from the trunk of his car. The recipient in one case was 18 years old. The incident was a blatant violation of Seattle’s safe storage laws, laws prohibiting the open carrying of a firearm for the purpose of intimidation, ignoring the state’s universal background check requirement as well as the prohibition of anyone under the age of 21 from possessing a gun.
At that time, little was done by Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee or Seattle Mayor Durkan to put a stop to CHAZ. Gov. Inslee is doubling down by signing a law banning magazines with a carrying capacity greater than 10 rounds. He, and Washington’s politicians, refuse to recognize the problem is crime, not those who lawfully own firearms. Limiting their ability to protect themselves doesn’t reduce crime.
Permanent Move?
Amazon’s move to a friendlier neighborhood could be a permanent one if the city isn’t able to put an end to the crime surge downtown. When asked by the media about the employee relocation, Amazon didn’t respond.
Amazon isn’t alone in their growing frustration of violence, crime, and relying on a police force that has been reduced by antigun city councils and mayors.
In the last two years, Washingtonians have run more National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verifications than they did in the two years before the violence spiked. NSSF’s Adjusted NICS totals representing background checks for firearm transfers in 2018 and 2019 were 448,911 and 432,221 respectively, compared to 2020 and 2021, when 597,342 and 526, 284 were processed.
Washingtonians are taking responsibility for their own safety, even as antigun politicians sold them out. Amazon’s move out of the dangerous downtown neighborhood could be seen as a correction to their investment. The politicians – and policies – Amazon embraced are clearly bad for business.
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org
Gee, dimlibs getting what they deserve because of their own actions? Make my day.
Fabulous! Soon, someone will note that this is a “racist” move and is detrimental to lower income homes and businesses in the area.
Businesses are already leaving the area, or shutting their doors because of the crimes of shoplifting, carjackings ,physical assaults, gang activity, defund the police policies, homeless camps w/rampant drug abuse, and VERY anti-business climate. What’s interesting is Amazon helped create that climate, now they don’t like the results of what’s happening in Seattle and are moving the majority of employees to Bellevue, a much more conservative city(a conservative city in western WA? Yeah, I know…) across Lake Washington from Seattle, which is business friendly, don’t tolerate crime or homeless camps or vagrancy. It’s only a matter of time before Amazon… Read more »
One of the reasons I no longer use Amazon. I have also canceled my Netflix
account, about 2 years ago. Big Corp. needs us more than we need them.
Think about it, we got along just fine before Big Corp. was running our lives.
They’re only selling convenience.
Dumped Amazon long ago. I can find lower prices 95% of the time. Don’t mind a little more while buying local small shops either.
I was born and raised in Seattle and have lived here for 7 decades. I used to treasure this beautiful city but no more, I’m now ashamed of it. Make no mistake, this crime problem isn’t Amazon’s fault, it’s not even just the mayor’s and city council’s fault, the fault sits squarely in the laps of Seattle’s “woke” citizens who consistently vote for “fantasy political players” as if governing is a game with no consequences. And they somehow ignore the consequences when they inevitably occur. How did we raise generations of idiots who think they can consume the rewards of… Read more »
Texas is calling, brother. Oh, and welcome to the site.
“Mayor Durkan turned down running for re-election, an unsurprising move when the city’s crime spiraled out of control. Current Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell ran and won the election on a message of law and order and increasing police.”
Create a problem. Claim that you can solve the problem by spending more money (higher taxes) and curtailing liberties and rights. Political SOP. Three steps back, go one forward and declare victory.
Sow. Reap. it is that simple. The clowns who have taken over the city of my birth destroyed the hard work of my grandfathers and father, all good men and have turned this jewel by the Sound in to a toilet. Incremental stupidity over the past 50 years has destroyed more than one formerly great American city. This is a classic case in point, along with Portland, San Francisco and many others. Tragic. Preventable.
Do any of you out there think these bozos will learn anything? I bet they leave a trail of destroyed cities and towns as they move from place to place to get away from the crime they bring with them
Will these Anti-Freedom Sycophants learn? NO! Move in, DESTROY the economy, MOVE OUT! This IS the attitude of these DemoKKKrat communist party members!!
The motive force behind the Progressive New Left is the same force behind all totalitarian and authoritarian movements: Pride. Excessive pride. The Greeks have a great word for excessive pride: Hubris. Hubris is when the below average think they have exceeded the wisdom, the power and the glory of their Creator. And they are stupid enough to believe it in spite of the evidence in front of them. That clear fact defines what is happening in progressive utopias like Seattle and Portland and many others.
Every $ you spend at Amazon and Walmart promotes anti American values and propaganda.
Well it’s not gonna change. 40 something % of Americans would now STILL vote for BrainDeadJoe over TRUMP . . . because BrainDeadJoe is doing a pretty good job. Expensive gas has nothing to do with the “GreenNewDeal” agenda. PUTIN DID IT! Finally NYC got rid of communist DiBlasio and they all went out in their destroyed wasteland of a city to vote . . . AND THEY ELECTED ANOTHER DEMOCRAT! . . . because HE said HE’LL be tough on crime. I’LL TELL YA ANOTHER ONE: Ketanji Brown Jackson say’s SHE respects the Heller Decision! SHE’LL have no choice… Read more »
Welcome to usastrong.IO. A curated USA MADE E-COMMERCE SHOPPING COMMUNITY™.
https://usastrong.io/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI96CAkpvi9gIVMG1vBB1rCwYLEAAYAyAAEgLmCPD_BwE
https://buyamerican.com/landing/ pushes Bezos-Amazon, so you’re still paying the enemy!
usastrong.io is extremely overpriced. Cheapest t-shirt is $30, and it advertises for Yeti, so they should pay you to wear it. Cheapest non-advertising T is ~$50. It’s one thing to pay 10-20% more for USA made. If you want people to switch from Amazon, it has to be more competitive than 500% markups.
Relax Komrades.
It’s all part of the planned “Great Reset”.
Uncovering the Corona Narrative – by Robert W Malone MD, MS (substack.com)
Be careful walmart and amazon are very inventive !!
Support your local vendors who support your hometown & America. Might cost a little more it is worth every dollar spent
https://buyamerican.com/landing/
Everything on that site links right to the enemy: Amazon-Bezos. Looks like a phony cover for Amazon.
They are NOT “reaping what they sow”, they are merely moving out to safer healthier places. Another term for this is “metastasis”, such as when a malignant cancerous tumor “metastasizes” – spreads it’s cancerous cells to infect and corrupt other organs all over the body, or in this case, to other states, cities, and towns all over the country. Left untreated, eventually the body or nation dies from the cancer of illiberal leftist Marxism. Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS. Political correctness, thinly disguised anti-American Marxism, is the AIDS of modern society. It renders all of society’s normal healthy defenses against… Read more »
Risible nonsense. USA Deep State behind the Curtain of Oz has been orchestrating the False Flags/agitprop/gaslighting/MSM polemics using Progessive/Liberalism/Bohemian Politics way past Mission Creep – Off the Reservation status for years now. “To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it… Read more »
How many conservatives & gunners put money in Bezos’s pocket even though there are competitive alternatives to Amazon/Prime?
like who? I would love to know!!
Walmart.com, Roku, Hulu, ebay, Barnes & Noble, lots of online booksellers, many more. You really can’t figure this out on your own?
NAME THE “competitive alternatives” PLEASE.
Let’s just say there are alternatives. It’s easy to shop elsewhere if you don’t mind paying more for the same product most of the time. Amazon isn’t always cheaper. I go directly to certain companies that sell firearm accessories. And have found some to be cheaper. I would think Amazon would NOT sell anything firearm related. Hypocrites ! Hell they would sell guns if they could get away with it. They aren’t fooling anyone. lol
I get things on Walmart.com and many other places for the same price or less. Sometimes I’m willing to pay slightly more to avoid paying Bezos, but if I can’t find a competitive option, I don’t buy the product.
Buying from Walmart puts money in communist China’s hands.
Not if the product is made here. And Walmart is far less evil than Bezos-Amazon-Prime-Washington Post. As to movies and tv, lots of alternatives to Netflix and Prime. Stop making excuses for paying the enemy.
I implied no such result. It is just that I have read that ninety-five percent of the merchandise sold at Walmart was made in China. I have often heard Walmart referred to as “China’s outlet store”.
I don’t believe it’s 95%, but it’s high. I buy lots of stuff from Walmart not made in China. No one makes you buy the ChiCom stuff. In any case, if I had to buy something made in China, I’d rather buy it from Walmart or somewhere other than Bezos.
I see you broke out your sock posse to upvote yourself 13 times in the last few minutes. How sad to live for phony votes.
Anyone who doesn’t know what they are already is too lazy to look.
I get things on Walmart.com for example, same price or less.