With the murder rate in America near historic lows, I think the person you're replying to is spot-on. It's a lot of hysteria fueled by social media, foreign actors, and the fact that security paranoia is a very lucrative business for a lot of companies.
https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/USA/uni...
Yes, there has been a recent uptick, but it's still 30% below what it was 30 years ago. Heck, it's almost 20% lower than it was 100 years ago.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1088644/homicide-suicide...
To find a U.S. murder rate lower than 2014, you have to go back to 1906.
But security companies, alarm companies, conservative politicians and their media partners, police unions, and others with a financial interest foam at the mouth to make it seem like things have never been worse.