It's not that the murder rate is going up; it's that it's mainly climbing in the poor, black neighborhoods (at least in my area). Police departments are gun-shy (no pun intended) to be as active or even pro-active in these neighborhoods. It seems that they are letting this type of crime happen there and then moving in. There is not as much outreach or even action as they see things escalating. In the larger cities here, the politicians are keeping the police from doing anything but cleaning up afterwards.