Chicago has a long-running gang violence problem, which Chicago politicians and other hacks persistently claim is a "gun problem."
But they're gonna fix it now, you betcha, with a Twitter initiative: under the hashtag #WHATIFCHICAGO, they're asking for your snappy 140-character solution to the city's "gun problem."
Hey, Chicago, you know what is the problem? It's too damn hard for an honest person to legally lay hands on a gun. Even if they do get through the maze, they still can't have it when they are most likely to need it.
--And suggestions range from installing even more draconian restrictions with even heavier penalties -- because somehow, a guy who is willing to murder his fellow-humans is going to be worried by one more law or ten more possible years if he gets caught, or will register his guns if you tell him this time, you really, really mean it -- to one from a practical-looking woman who makes the point I opened with: WhatIfChicago stopped confusing the city's gang problem with a gun problem?
A fraction of the city's population are wallowing and dieing in a world of hopeless violence, waging tiny wars over tiny bits of turf and drug deals that don't amount to a measurable percentage of the legal business conducted in the City Of Broad Shoulders -- and yet the mess affects everyone; you might not be the four-year-old hit by a stray shot, or even her uncle, but if you're living in or near Chicago, your life has been negatively affected by the gang crime problem there.
And they're not going to fix it with tougher gun laws. Even laws more than 140 characters long. It ain't gonna even start to be fixed until gang members start looking at the honest citizens, worrying what they might do to maintain the peace. Most people in Chicago are decent and at least middlin' honest; they shouldn't have to fear gang members.
Update
2 days ago
6 comments:
You might enjoy this story broadcast on Chicago Tonight ... Are Chicago Murders All Gang Related? In summary, anecdotal evidence suggests that rather than gang turf wars, what we're witness to is a population willing to murder over car horn honking or other "interpersonal friction" To me this is a far more damning theory. Sorry. I won't waste the time tweeting anything to those that run Mordor on the Lake.
Snitchy dot com...
Art: if not directly gang related, then the result of a social milieu in which petty annoyances and passing whims rate murder -- which stems from "thug life" and similar philosophies of hopelessness.
I think there's a brilliant idea hidden in your post - limit laws to 140 characters, no more omnibus bills or room for weasel-words.
You ain't seen draconian until you've been to Britain.
How's that working out?
Did you see the recent murders of two female police officers in Manchester?
So here, in the country where even toy guns result in a nighttime raid by SO19. this gang member was armed, and used hand-grenades and multiple weapons to ambush two young lady professionals so as to get a reputation (he'd already killed others and so faces no more a penalty as a result).
The consensus, except amongst the hard of thinking, is that punishments that reflect the crime (ie. hanging - as opposed to fitting some left-wing ideology - give him a puppy) would help. He'll face a couple of years in a cushy prison cell (with TV, Xbox, etc. because it's his ooman right innit?) and then be out with taxpayers funding his housing and lifestyle.
This country is lost, Chicago, hah they're just a bunch of pikers in comparison.
Cogito, ergo doleo ;-(
Farmist: I think you're right.
Able: Alas, when they're all VERBOTEN, a hand grenade is no easier -- or more difficult -- to get than a .22 revolver. :( Or pepper spray. :((
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