It has other countries that were always bad. Western europe and asia are fine as ever. And some do it with unarmed police. Which is why it seems overwhelmingly likely to be determined by social policy (ie healthcare and gun control) and not enforcement.

I don't know what the OP meant but I certainly would mean specifically "the pandemic is to blame".

If there were no discernable response to the pandemic from any organized institution in society there is a pretty good chance the pandemic itself could be blamed for a /lot/ of terrible things.

Probably both. 550K people are gone and we are likely experiencing a peak in fear, grief and despair. But business and school closures are probably not helping. And given the prevalence of domestic violence, quarantine is probably prison for some percentage of people.