[thawaway1837]

The federal government stopped giving the police military weapons. They also had consent degrees with several departments that helped improve things.

These and others are all things the current administration has reversed and is almost certainly playing a huge role into why things have gotten so bad.

[mythrwy]

They were giving weapons to... someone though?

Seems I remember Republicans going on and on about that to this day. Fast and Furious something?

[fatbird]

Fast and Furious was a DEA operation to allow gun dealers to sell weapons to straw purchasers in the U.S., knowing and hoping they'd go to Mexican cartels, allowing them to legally go after the cartels.

The Obama admin was responsible in "the buck stops here" sense, but this wasn't about admin policy.

[coderintherye]

You're thinking of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal

It started in 2006 under Bush and continued under Obama.

[masonic]

  It started in 2006 under Bush

That very Wikipedia link clearly affirms that the operation that came to be known as Fast and Furious began in October 2009.

[coderintherye]

It's literally in the first sentence of the article: between 2006 and 2011. The initiative ran from 2006-2011. Operation Wide Receiver was the first operation that ran 2006-2008. Operation Fast & Furious was a subset that ran 2009-2011.

This information is readily seen by anyone who actually clicks the link.

Regardless, the facts are not political no matter how much you may want to make them. The initiative began under the Bush admin and continued under Obama. Arguably, neither had much to do with it as it was mostly the work of the ATF and its leadership.