Im ready to curb gun murders. Lets work together

[2aguy]

Genocide can only happen when the victims are unarmed......

No one is advocating to keep guns away from fit citizens. But there have to be safety measures.

There are safety measures....people who are felons cannot buy, own or carry guns.....we have those laws....what we don't have are politicians who will create prison sentences long enough to keep them in jail....the democrats are fighting to keep repeat gun offender sentences low.......and we already have a process to adjudicate people dangerously mentally ill.....we just have to get that system to work...

Those are pretty much all we need to reduce gun crime...outside of dealing with single teenage mothers in democrat voting districts...

Single moms in Republican districts are ok?

Nope...but the concentration of gun crime is heavily in democrat voting districts....where they fight increasing prison sentences on repeat gun offenders...and where gangs help get democrat politicians elected.

You're foolish if you think street thugs vote.

No.....I have the links that show this happening in Chicago...

Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance



Baskin—who was himself a candidate in the 16th Ward aldermanic race, which he would lose—was happy to oblige. In all, he says, he helped broker meetings between roughly 30 politicians (ten sitting aldermen and 20 candidates for City Council) and at least six gang representatives. That claim is backed up by two other community activists, Harold Davis Jr. and Kublai K. M. Toure, who worked with Baskin to arrange the meetings, and a third participant, also a community activist, who requested anonymity. The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members.

The first meeting, according to Baskin, occurred in early November 2010, right before the statewide general election; more gatherings followed in the run-up to the February 2011 municipal elections. The venues included office buildings, restaurants, and law offices. (By all accounts, similar meetings took place across the city before last year’s elections and in elections past, including after hours at the Garfield Center, a taxpayer-financed facility on the West Side that is used by the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.)

At some of the meetings, the politicians arrived with campaign materials and occasionally with aides. The sessions were organized much like corporate-style job fairs. The gang representatives conducted hourlong interviews, one after the other, talking to as many as five candidates in a single evening. Like supplicants, the politicians came into the room alone and sat before the gang representatives, who sat behind a long table. “One candidate said, ‘I feel like I’m in the hot seat,’” recalls Baskin. “And they were.”

-----------



Our findings:

• While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of chores patronage armies once did.
• In some cases, the partnerships extend beyond the elections in troubling—and possibly criminal—ways, greased by the steady and largely secret flow of money from gang leaders to certain politicians and vice versa. The gangs funnel their largess through opaque businesses, or front companies, and through under-the-table payments. In turn, grateful politicians use their payrolls or campaign funds to hire gang members, pull strings for them to get jobs or contracts, or offer other favors (see“Gangs and Politicians: Prisoner Shuffle”).
• Most alarming, both law enforcement and gang sources say, is that some politicians ignore the gangs’ criminal activities. Some go so far as to protect gangs from the police, tipping them off to impending raids or to surveillance activities—in effect, creating safe havens in their political districts. And often they chafe at backing tough measures to stem gang activities, advocating instead for superficial solutions that may garner good press but have little impact.

The paradox is that Chicago’s struggle to combat street gangs is being undermined by its own elected officials. And the alliances between lawmakers and lawbreakers raise a troubling question: Who actually rules the neighborhoods—our public servants or the gangs?and how they affect sentencing and prison sentences...

 

[2aguy]

Genocide can only happen when the victims are unarmed......

No one is advocating to keep guns away from fit citizens. But there have to be safety measures.

There are safety measures....people who are felons cannot buy, own or carry guns.....we have those laws....what we don't have are politicians who will create prison sentences long enough to keep them in jail....the democrats are fighting to keep repeat gun offender sentences low.......and we already have a process to adjudicate people dangerously mentally ill.....we just have to get that system to work...

Those are pretty much all we need to reduce gun crime...outside of dealing with single teenage mothers in democrat voting districts...

Single moms in Republican districts are ok?

Safety regulations and attacking poverty is how you lower gun violence rate .

No.....locking up repeat violent criminals is how you lower the crime rate....then you attack poverty to stop the supply of new criminals....and to save lives.....

 

[ricechickie]

No one is advocating to keep guns away from fit citizens. But there have to be safety measures.

There are safety measures....people who are felons cannot buy, own or carry guns.....we have those laws....what we don't have are politicians who will create prison sentences long enough to keep them in jail....the democrats are fighting to keep repeat gun offender sentences low.......and we already have a process to adjudicate people dangerously mentally ill.....we just have to get that system to work...

Those are pretty much all we need to reduce gun crime...outside of dealing with single teenage mothers in democrat voting districts...

Single moms in Republican districts are ok?

Nope...but the concentration of gun crime is heavily in democrat voting districts....where they fight increasing prison sentences on repeat gun offenders...and where gangs help get democrat politicians elected.

You're foolish if you think street thugs vote.

No.....I have the links that show this happening in Chicago...

Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance



Baskin—who was himself a candidate in the 16th Ward aldermanic race, which he would lose—was happy to oblige. In all, he says, he helped broker meetings between roughly 30 politicians (ten sitting aldermen and 20 candidates for City Council) and at least six gang representatives. That claim is backed up by two other community activists, Harold Davis Jr. and Kublai K. M. Toure, who worked with Baskin to arrange the meetings, and a third participant, also a community activist, who requested anonymity. The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members.

The first meeting, according to Baskin, occurred in early November 2010, right before the statewide general election; more gatherings followed in the run-up to the February 2011 municipal elections. The venues included office buildings, restaurants, and law offices. (By all accounts, similar meetings took place across the city before last year’s elections and in elections past, including after hours at the Garfield Center, a taxpayer-financed facility on the West Side that is used by the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.)

At some of the meetings, the politicians arrived with campaign materials and occasionally with aides. The sessions were organized much like corporate-style job fairs. The gang representatives conducted hourlong interviews, one after the other, talking to as many as five candidates in a single evening. Like supplicants, the politicians came into the room alone and sat before the gang representatives, who sat behind a long table. “One candidate said, ‘I feel like I’m in the hot seat,’” recalls Baskin. “And they were.”

-----------



Our findings:

• While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of chores patronage armies once did.
• In some cases, the partnerships extend beyond the elections in troubling—and possibly criminal—ways, greased by the steady and largely secret flow of money from gang leaders to certain politicians and vice versa. The gangs funnel their largess through opaque businesses, or front companies, and through under-the-table payments. In turn, grateful politicians use their payrolls or campaign funds to hire gang members, pull strings for them to get jobs or contracts, or offer other favors (see“Gangs and Politicians: Prisoner Shuffle”).
• Most alarming, both law enforcement and gang sources say, is that some politicians ignore the gangs’ criminal activities. Some go so far as to protect gangs from the police, tipping them off to impending raids or to surveillance activities—in effect, creating safe havens in their political districts. And often they chafe at backing tough measures to stem gang activities, advocating instead for superficial solutions that may garner good press but have little impact.

The paradox is that Chicago’s struggle to combat street gangs is being undermined by its own elected officials. And the alliances between lawmakers and lawbreakers raise a troubling question: Who actually rules the neighborhoods—our public servants or the gangs?and how they affect sentencing and prison sentences...

I knew something like that was coming.

" The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members."

These are former gangbangers. They can say that they can mobilize active gang members, but I doubt strongly.

Might be nice for a politician to claim to have a "pet gang," in an attempt to have street cared in the district. Kind of like how Trump has the white supremacists.

 

[Aries]

There are safety measures....people who are felons cannot buy, own or carry guns.....we have those laws....what we don't have are politicians who will create prison sentences long enough to keep them in jail....the democrats are fighting to keep repeat gun offender sentences low.......and we already have a process to adjudicate people dangerously mentally ill.....we just have to get that system to work...

Those are pretty much all we need to reduce gun crime...outside of dealing with single teenage mothers in democrat voting districts...

Single moms in Republican districts are ok?

Nope...but the concentration of gun crime is heavily in democrat voting districts....where they fight increasing prison sentences on repeat gun offenders...and where gangs help get democrat politicians elected.

You're foolish if you think street thugs vote.

No.....I have the links that show this happening in Chicago...

Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance



Baskin—who was himself a candidate in the 16th Ward aldermanic race, which he would lose—was happy to oblige. In all, he says, he helped broker meetings between roughly 30 politicians (ten sitting aldermen and 20 candidates for City Council) and at least six gang representatives. That claim is backed up by two other community activists, Harold Davis Jr. and Kublai K. M. Toure, who worked with Baskin to arrange the meetings, and a third participant, also a community activist, who requested anonymity. The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members.

The first meeting, according to Baskin, occurred in early November 2010, right before the statewide general election; more gatherings followed in the run-up to the February 2011 municipal elections. The venues included office buildings, restaurants, and law offices. (By all accounts, similar meetings took place across the city before last year’s elections and in elections past, including after hours at the Garfield Center, a taxpayer-financed facility on the West Side that is used by the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.)

At some of the meetings, the politicians arrived with campaign materials and occasionally with aides. The sessions were organized much like corporate-style job fairs. The gang representatives conducted hourlong interviews, one after the other, talking to as many as five candidates in a single evening. Like supplicants, the politicians came into the room alone and sat before the gang representatives, who sat behind a long table. “One candidate said, ‘I feel like I’m in the hot seat,’” recalls Baskin. “And they were.”

-----------



Our findings:

• While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of chores patronage armies once did.
• In some cases, the partnerships extend beyond the elections in troubling—and possibly criminal—ways, greased by the steady and largely secret flow of money from gang leaders to certain politicians and vice versa. The gangs funnel their largess through opaque businesses, or front companies, and through under-the-table payments. In turn, grateful politicians use their payrolls or campaign funds to hire gang members, pull strings for them to get jobs or contracts, or offer other favors (see“Gangs and Politicians: Prisoner Shuffle”).
• Most alarming, both law enforcement and gang sources say, is that some politicians ignore the gangs’ criminal activities. Some go so far as to protect gangs from the police, tipping them off to impending raids or to surveillance activities—in effect, creating safe havens in their political districts. And often they chafe at backing tough measures to stem gang activities, advocating instead for superficial solutions that may garner good press but have little impact.

The paradox is that Chicago’s struggle to combat street gangs is being undermined by its own elected officials. And the alliances between lawmakers and lawbreakers raise a troubling question: Who actually rules the neighborhoods—our public servants or the gangs?and how they affect sentencing and prison sentences...

I knew something like that was coming.

" The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members."

These are former gangbangers. They can say that they can mobilize active gang members, but I doubt strongly.

Might be nice for a politician to claim to have a "pet gang," in an attempt to have street cared in the district. Kind of like how Trump has the white supremacists.

My city has a movement of former gangbangers against gun violence as well. They hold rallies, speak to kids at our local community centers, hold signs up to bring awareness.. they have respect from the gangs and the community. It could potentially grow into a very beneficial alliance. We also have programs that encourage turning in handguns. Turn in a gun, get some cash in return, no questions asked. This program encourages police-community members working together, and gets a lot of guns on the streets that could have been used in countless more crimes.

 

[KeiserC]

Lets get to the bottom of the pandemic of suicides and gang violence with guns.
I am ready to solve this issue!
We obviously cant stop suicides. We could take their gun, but it will still happen. But we could take the gun, and they can use a knife and slit their throat. Or throw themselves in front of a bus. Maybe that's better? So there goes the number one cause of gun murder.
Gang violence. Most of them use illegal guns. So how do we curb that?
I don't want to hear no bullshit about background checks on private transactions or limited magazines or the same worn out clichés the gun grabbers use on a daily basis. Id like to work on ACTUAL solutions instead of reducing liberties for the majority of the country.
Lets work and ACTUALLY figure out a solution!
Whos with me?

I'm from VT, it is rare to find a home outside of the 4-5 condensed metropolitan areas that don't have at least a couple firearms... deer rifle & shotgun / .22 rim-fire are ubiquitous to any "rural / suburban" home (99%) of the state. We have virtually no firearm related homicides. I have lived in So Cal, Boston, Long Island collectively for longer than in VT so I'm not speaking as a hillbilly here. I do strongly believe that the more law abiding people that have guns, the safer we are, on average, as a society. Felons will somehow get a gun or find some other means of carrying out their murderous intent. It is daft and absurd to think that limiting guns, across the board, is somehow a good thing. All you do is bolster the confidence of perpetrators going up against the greater likelihood of a vulnerable public. Look at the UK (shop owners in particular), & AU. This is not even broaching the issue that we are a nation with the the '2nd' entrenched within the very fabric of our constitution. How many hundreds of thousands have shed their blood in carving out and protecting these rights. When you say "if just one life is saved it'll be worth it" NO it's not worth many, many, many lives to trample our constitutional rights! Not that this is universally applicable but as a microcosm... look at the CO. theater shooter, the coward drove past a number of closer theaters to find one in a "gun free zone" he didn't relish someone pulling out a pocket pistol on him...

 

[yiostheoy]

My city has a movement of former gangbangers against gun violence as well. They hold rallies, speak to kids at our local community centers, hold signs up to bring awareness.. they have respect from the gangs and the community. It could potentially grow into a very beneficial alliance. We also have programs that encourage turning in handguns. Turn in a gun, get some cash in return, no questions asked. This program encourages police-community members working together, and gets a lot of guns on the streets that could have been used in countless more crimes.

Turning in a handgun if you are not legally authorized to own it is a very good idea. It will keep you out of the slammer on additional charges that are gun related.

Turning in a perfectly good handgun if you are legally allowed to carry it is ludicrous. It's like bending over, pulling down your pants, and inviting a street thug to fokk you.

Whatever floats your boat !!

 

[yiostheoy]

.....locking up repeat violent criminals is how you lower the crime rate....then you attack poverty to stop the supply of new criminals....and to save lives.....

If everyone carried concealed and shot anyone who assaulted them then there would be less career criminals on the streets and less felons locked up in prisons.

 

[KeiserC]

.....locking up repeat violent criminals is how you lower the crime rate....then you attack poverty to stop the supply of new criminals....and to save lives.....

If everyone carried concealed and shot anyone who assaulted them then there would be less career criminals on the streets and less felons locked up in prisons.

I agree in sentiment, but... only last resort... and if you pull and shoot someone and found to be in the wrong... U deserve to pay the price! That is why castle doctrine is such a nuanced facet of law. Sometimes a good butt whooping is just in the cards for you and I and even in the 'wild west' before "the law" was established there was that clear and obvious moral distinction that we all innately know in our hearts.

 

[2aguy]

There are safety measures....people who are felons cannot buy, own or carry guns.....we have those laws....what we don't have are politicians who will create prison sentences long enough to keep them in jail....the democrats are fighting to keep repeat gun offender sentences low.......and we already have a process to adjudicate people dangerously mentally ill.....we just have to get that system to work...

Those are pretty much all we need to reduce gun crime...outside of dealing with single teenage mothers in democrat voting districts...

Single moms in Republican districts are ok?

Nope...but the concentration of gun crime is heavily in democrat voting districts....where they fight increasing prison sentences on repeat gun offenders...and where gangs help get democrat politicians elected.

You're foolish if you think street thugs vote.

No.....I have the links that show this happening in Chicago...

Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance



Baskin—who was himself a candidate in the 16th Ward aldermanic race, which he would lose—was happy to oblige. In all, he says, he helped broker meetings between roughly 30 politicians (ten sitting aldermen and 20 candidates for City Council) and at least six gang representatives. That claim is backed up by two other community activists, Harold Davis Jr. and Kublai K. M. Toure, who worked with Baskin to arrange the meetings, and a third participant, also a community activist, who requested anonymity. The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members.

The first meeting, according to Baskin, occurred in early November 2010, right before the statewide general election; more gatherings followed in the run-up to the February 2011 municipal elections. The venues included office buildings, restaurants, and law offices. (By all accounts, similar meetings took place across the city before last year’s elections and in elections past, including after hours at the Garfield Center, a taxpayer-financed facility on the West Side that is used by the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.)

At some of the meetings, the politicians arrived with campaign materials and occasionally with aides. The sessions were organized much like corporate-style job fairs. The gang representatives conducted hourlong interviews, one after the other, talking to as many as five candidates in a single evening. Like supplicants, the politicians came into the room alone and sat before the gang representatives, who sat behind a long table. “One candidate said, ‘I feel like I’m in the hot seat,’” recalls Baskin. “And they were.”

-----------



Our findings:

• While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of chores patronage armies once did.
• In some cases, the partnerships extend beyond the elections in troubling—and possibly criminal—ways, greased by the steady and largely secret flow of money from gang leaders to certain politicians and vice versa. The gangs funnel their largess through opaque businesses, or front companies, and through under-the-table payments. In turn, grateful politicians use their payrolls or campaign funds to hire gang members, pull strings for them to get jobs or contracts, or offer other favors (see“Gangs and Politicians: Prisoner Shuffle”).
• Most alarming, both law enforcement and gang sources say, is that some politicians ignore the gangs’ criminal activities. Some go so far as to protect gangs from the police, tipping them off to impending raids or to surveillance activities—in effect, creating safe havens in their political districts. And often they chafe at backing tough measures to stem gang activities, advocating instead for superficial solutions that may garner good press but have little impact.

The paradox is that Chicago’s struggle to combat street gangs is being undermined by its own elected officials. And the alliances between lawmakers and lawbreakers raise a troubling question: Who actually rules the neighborhoods—our public servants or the gangs?and how they affect sentencing and prison sentences...

I knew something like that was coming.

" The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members."

These are former gangbangers. They can say that they can mobilize active gang members, but I doubt strongly.

Might be nice for a politician to claim to have a "pet gang," in an attempt to have street cared in the district. Kind of like how Trump has the white supremacists.

Read the entire piece...those guys are the middle men to the active gang leaders........

the politician doesn't have pet gang..the gang has pet politicians...

Read the whole piece...

 

[KeiserC]

Single moms in Republican districts are ok?

Nope...but the concentration of gun crime is heavily in democrat voting districts....where they fight increasing prison sentences on repeat gun offenders...and where gangs help get democrat politicians elected.

You're foolish if you think street thugs vote.

No.....I have the links that show this happening in Chicago...

Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance



Baskin—who was himself a candidate in the 16th Ward aldermanic race, which he would lose—was happy to oblige. In all, he says, he helped broker meetings between roughly 30 politicians (ten sitting aldermen and 20 candidates for City Council) and at least six gang representatives. That claim is backed up by two other community activists, Harold Davis Jr. and Kublai K. M. Toure, who worked with Baskin to arrange the meetings, and a third participant, also a community activist, who requested anonymity. The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members.

The first meeting, according to Baskin, occurred in early November 2010, right before the statewide general election; more gatherings followed in the run-up to the February 2011 municipal elections. The venues included office buildings, restaurants, and law offices. (By all accounts, similar meetings took place across the city before last year’s elections and in elections past, including after hours at the Garfield Center, a taxpayer-financed facility on the West Side that is used by the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.)

At some of the meetings, the politicians arrived with campaign materials and occasionally with aides. The sessions were organized much like corporate-style job fairs. The gang representatives conducted hourlong interviews, one after the other, talking to as many as five candidates in a single evening. Like supplicants, the politicians came into the room alone and sat before the gang representatives, who sat behind a long table. “One candidate said, ‘I feel like I’m in the hot seat,’” recalls Baskin. “And they were.”

-----------



Our findings:

• While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of chores patronage armies once did.
• In some cases, the partnerships extend beyond the elections in troubling—and possibly criminal—ways, greased by the steady and largely secret flow of money from gang leaders to certain politicians and vice versa. The gangs funnel their largess through opaque businesses, or front companies, and through under-the-table payments. In turn, grateful politicians use their payrolls or campaign funds to hire gang members, pull strings for them to get jobs or contracts, or offer other favors (see“Gangs and Politicians: Prisoner Shuffle”).
• Most alarming, both law enforcement and gang sources say, is that some politicians ignore the gangs’ criminal activities. Some go so far as to protect gangs from the police, tipping them off to impending raids or to surveillance activities—in effect, creating safe havens in their political districts. And often they chafe at backing tough measures to stem gang activities, advocating instead for superficial solutions that may garner good press but have little impact.

The paradox is that Chicago’s struggle to combat street gangs is being undermined by its own elected officials. And the alliances between lawmakers and lawbreakers raise a troubling question: Who actually rules the neighborhoods—our public servants or the gangs?and how they affect sentencing and prison sentences...

I knew something like that was coming.

" The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members."

These are former gangbangers. They can say that they can mobilize active gang members, but I doubt strongly.

Might be nice for a politician to claim to have a "pet gang," in an attempt to have street cared in the district. Kind of like how Trump has the white supremacists.

My city has a movement of former gangbangers against gun violence as well. They hold rallies, speak to kids at our local community centers, hold signs up to bring awareness.. they have respect from the gangs and the community. It could potentially grow into a very beneficial alliance. We also have programs that encourage turning in handguns. Turn in a gun, get some cash in return, no questions asked. This program encourages police-community members working together, and gets a lot of guns on the streets that could have been used in countless more crimes.

Anyone even contemplating guns for cash pgm. probably shouldn't own in the first place (generally speaking there are exceptions)

 

[2aguy]

Single moms in Republican districts are ok?

Nope...but the concentration of gun crime is heavily in democrat voting districts....where they fight increasing prison sentences on repeat gun offenders...and where gangs help get democrat politicians elected.

You're foolish if you think street thugs vote.

No.....I have the links that show this happening in Chicago...

Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance



Baskin—who was himself a candidate in the 16th Ward aldermanic race, which he would lose—was happy to oblige. In all, he says, he helped broker meetings between roughly 30 politicians (ten sitting aldermen and 20 candidates for City Council) and at least six gang representatives. That claim is backed up by two other community activists, Harold Davis Jr. and Kublai K. M. Toure, who worked with Baskin to arrange the meetings, and a third participant, also a community activist, who requested anonymity. The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members.

The first meeting, according to Baskin, occurred in early November 2010, right before the statewide general election; more gatherings followed in the run-up to the February 2011 municipal elections. The venues included office buildings, restaurants, and law offices. (By all accounts, similar meetings took place across the city before last year’s elections and in elections past, including after hours at the Garfield Center, a taxpayer-financed facility on the West Side that is used by the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.)

At some of the meetings, the politicians arrived with campaign materials and occasionally with aides. The sessions were organized much like corporate-style job fairs. The gang representatives conducted hourlong interviews, one after the other, talking to as many as five candidates in a single evening. Like supplicants, the politicians came into the room alone and sat before the gang representatives, who sat behind a long table. “One candidate said, ‘I feel like I’m in the hot seat,’” recalls Baskin. “And they were.”

-----------



Our findings:

• While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of chores patronage armies once did.
• In some cases, the partnerships extend beyond the elections in troubling—and possibly criminal—ways, greased by the steady and largely secret flow of money from gang leaders to certain politicians and vice versa. The gangs funnel their largess through opaque businesses, or front companies, and through under-the-table payments. In turn, grateful politicians use their payrolls or campaign funds to hire gang members, pull strings for them to get jobs or contracts, or offer other favors (see“Gangs and Politicians: Prisoner Shuffle”).
• Most alarming, both law enforcement and gang sources say, is that some politicians ignore the gangs’ criminal activities. Some go so far as to protect gangs from the police, tipping them off to impending raids or to surveillance activities—in effect, creating safe havens in their political districts. And often they chafe at backing tough measures to stem gang activities, advocating instead for superficial solutions that may garner good press but have little impact.

The paradox is that Chicago’s struggle to combat street gangs is being undermined by its own elected officials. And the alliances between lawmakers and lawbreakers raise a troubling question: Who actually rules the neighborhoods—our public servants or the gangs?and how they affect sentencing and prison sentences...

I knew something like that was coming.

" The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members."

These are former gangbangers. They can say that they can mobilize active gang members, but I doubt strongly.

Might be nice for a politician to claim to have a "pet gang," in an attempt to have street cared in the district. Kind of like how Trump has the white supremacists.

My city has a movement of former gangbangers against gun violence as well. They hold rallies, speak to kids at our local community centers, hold signs up to bring awareness.. they have respect from the gangs and the community. It could potentially grow into a very beneficial alliance. We also have programs that encourage turning in handguns. Turn in a gun, get some cash in return, no questions asked. This program encourages police-community members working together, and gets a lot of guns on the streets that could have been used in countless more crimes.

That isn't what they are doing here.......this is the gang using politicians to protect their crime interests in the wards....

 

[2aguy]

Single moms in Republican districts are ok?

Nope...but the concentration of gun crime is heavily in democrat voting districts....where they fight increasing prison sentences on repeat gun offenders...and where gangs help get democrat politicians elected.

You're foolish if you think street thugs vote.

No.....I have the links that show this happening in Chicago...

Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance



Baskin—who was himself a candidate in the 16th Ward aldermanic race, which he would lose—was happy to oblige. In all, he says, he helped broker meetings between roughly 30 politicians (ten sitting aldermen and 20 candidates for City Council) and at least six gang representatives. That claim is backed up by two other community activists, Harold Davis Jr. and Kublai K. M. Toure, who worked with Baskin to arrange the meetings, and a third participant, also a community activist, who requested anonymity. The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members.

The first meeting, according to Baskin, occurred in early November 2010, right before the statewide general election; more gatherings followed in the run-up to the February 2011 municipal elections. The venues included office buildings, restaurants, and law offices. (By all accounts, similar meetings took place across the city before last year’s elections and in elections past, including after hours at the Garfield Center, a taxpayer-financed facility on the West Side that is used by the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.)

At some of the meetings, the politicians arrived with campaign materials and occasionally with aides. The sessions were organized much like corporate-style job fairs. The gang representatives conducted hourlong interviews, one after the other, talking to as many as five candidates in a single evening. Like supplicants, the politicians came into the room alone and sat before the gang representatives, who sat behind a long table. “One candidate said, ‘I feel like I’m in the hot seat,’” recalls Baskin. “And they were.”

-----------



Our findings:

• While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of chores patronage armies once did.
• In some cases, the partnerships extend beyond the elections in troubling—and possibly criminal—ways, greased by the steady and largely secret flow of money from gang leaders to certain politicians and vice versa. The gangs funnel their largess through opaque businesses, or front companies, and through under-the-table payments. In turn, grateful politicians use their payrolls or campaign funds to hire gang members, pull strings for them to get jobs or contracts, or offer other favors (see“Gangs and Politicians: Prisoner Shuffle”).
• Most alarming, both law enforcement and gang sources say, is that some politicians ignore the gangs’ criminal activities. Some go so far as to protect gangs from the police, tipping them off to impending raids or to surveillance activities—in effect, creating safe havens in their political districts. And often they chafe at backing tough measures to stem gang activities, advocating instead for superficial solutions that may garner good press but have little impact.

The paradox is that Chicago’s struggle to combat street gangs is being undermined by its own elected officials. And the alliances between lawmakers and lawbreakers raise a troubling question: Who actually rules the neighborhoods—our public servants or the gangs?and how they affect sentencing and prison sentences...

I knew something like that was coming.

" The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members."

These are former gangbangers. They can say that they can mobilize active gang members, but I doubt strongly.

Might be nice for a politician to claim to have a "pet gang," in an attempt to have street cared in the district. Kind of like how Trump has the white supremacists.

My city has a movement of former gangbangers against gun violence as well. They hold rallies, speak to kids at our local community centers, hold signs up to bring awareness.. they have respect from the gangs and the community. It could potentially grow into a very beneficial alliance. We also have programs that encourage turning in handguns. Turn in a gun, get some cash in return, no questions asked. This program encourages police-community members working together, and gets a lot of guns on the streets that could have been used in countless more crimes.

No...those gun turn ins collect junk guns and crime guns ......they are a joke...

 

[2aguy]

There are safety measures....people who are felons cannot buy, own or carry guns.....we have those laws....what we don't have are politicians who will create prison sentences long enough to keep them in jail....the democrats are fighting to keep repeat gun offender sentences low.......and we already have a process to adjudicate people dangerously mentally ill.....we just have to get that system to work...

Those are pretty much all we need to reduce gun crime...outside of dealing with single teenage mothers in democrat voting districts...

Single moms in Republican districts are ok?

Nope...but the concentration of gun crime is heavily in democrat voting districts....where they fight increasing prison sentences on repeat gun offenders...and where gangs help get democrat politicians elected.

You're foolish if you think street thugs vote.

No.....I have the links that show this happening in Chicago...

Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance



Baskin—who was himself a candidate in the 16th Ward aldermanic race, which he would lose—was happy to oblige. In all, he says, he helped broker meetings between roughly 30 politicians (ten sitting aldermen and 20 candidates for City Council) and at least six gang representatives. That claim is backed up by two other community activists, Harold Davis Jr. and Kublai K. M. Toure, who worked with Baskin to arrange the meetings, and a third participant, also a community activist, who requested anonymity. The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members.

The first meeting, according to Baskin, occurred in early November 2010, right before the statewide general election; more gatherings followed in the run-up to the February 2011 municipal elections. The venues included office buildings, restaurants, and law offices. (By all accounts, similar meetings took place across the city before last year’s elections and in elections past, including after hours at the Garfield Center, a taxpayer-financed facility on the West Side that is used by the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.)

At some of the meetings, the politicians arrived with campaign materials and occasionally with aides. The sessions were organized much like corporate-style job fairs. The gang representatives conducted hourlong interviews, one after the other, talking to as many as five candidates in a single evening. Like supplicants, the politicians came into the room alone and sat before the gang representatives, who sat behind a long table. “One candidate said, ‘I feel like I’m in the hot seat,’” recalls Baskin. “And they were.”

-----------



Our findings:

• While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of chores patronage armies once did.
• In some cases, the partnerships extend beyond the elections in troubling—and possibly criminal—ways, greased by the steady and largely secret flow of money from gang leaders to certain politicians and vice versa. The gangs funnel their largess through opaque businesses, or front companies, and through under-the-table payments. In turn, grateful politicians use their payrolls or campaign funds to hire gang members, pull strings for them to get jobs or contracts, or offer other favors (see“Gangs and Politicians: Prisoner Shuffle”).
• Most alarming, both law enforcement and gang sources say, is that some politicians ignore the gangs’ criminal activities. Some go so far as to protect gangs from the police, tipping them off to impending raids or to surveillance activities—in effect, creating safe havens in their political districts. And often they chafe at backing tough measures to stem gang activities, advocating instead for superficial solutions that may garner good press but have little impact.

The paradox is that Chicago’s struggle to combat street gangs is being undermined by its own elected officials. And the alliances between lawmakers and lawbreakers raise a troubling question: Who actually rules the neighborhoods—our public servants or the gangs?and how they affect sentencing and prison sentences...

I knew something like that was coming.

" The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members."

These are former gangbangers. They can say that they can mobilize active gang members, but I doubt strongly.

Might be nice for a politician to claim to have a "pet gang," in an attempt to have street cared in the district. Kind of like how Trump has the white supremacists.

This is not about trying to improve the neighborhood..this is about political corruption and evil people doing evil things...

The police officers were in a squad car in October 2007, patrolling a section of Uptown some call a walking pharmacy, where drugs are sold openly. When they saw a silver Chevy Cavalier roll through a stop sign, they ran a check on the plates and discovered that there was a warrant for the arrest of the owner. They approached the car. One passenger turned out to be Rahiem Ali, a 29-year-old Gangster Disciple with a criminal record dating back to 1995 and a rap sheet with nearly 40 arrests. Ali and his twin brother, Rahmon, were well known to police. The two ran a lucrative Uptown drug spot and were notorious for being among the biggest, baddest gangbangers in the neighborhood. According to the officers’ report, they saw Ali shove a hand into his pants pocket and pop something into his mouth.

When they ordered him out of the car, Ali shoved the police aside and ran. It took four officers to subdue him. One suffered a cracked tooth when Ali hit him with his elbow. Two officers doused Ali with pepper spray before he coughed out two plastic bags filled with 23 smaller bags containing what was suspected to be crack cocaine.

Later, at the police station, two lawyers arrived to see Ali. In any other neighborhood, the officers might not have noticed them. But not in Uptown, not when one of the lawyers was Brendan Shiller, the son of Helen Shiller, the 46th Ward alderman.

--------

Her critics, meanwhile, argued that the complexes bred and fostered a criminal population, and they accused her of not doing enough to stop the drug and gang violence that dominated specific buildings. During meetings with the police department’s command staff, says a high-ranking police source, Shiller “never [made] a big push to go after any kind of organized narcotic operation.”

Officers working in the 23rd District say Shiller and her chief of staff, Denice Davis, frequently came into the station after certain Uptown residents were arrested to try to defuse things. Police say Davis’s interference on behalf of gangbangers and the Alis—whose mother, Aqueela, was part of the alderman’s political organization—had a chilling effect on their policing efforts. What was the point of making an arrest when it brought trouble from the alderman’s office? “Certain officers would get the message: ‘Maybe I shouldn’t make this stop’ or ‘Maybe I shouldn’t investigate this,’” says Joe Cox, a veteran officer from the district who retired in 2010.

 

[Aries]

Nope...but the concentration of gun crime is heavily in democrat voting districts....where they fight increasing prison sentences on repeat gun offenders...and where gangs help get democrat politicians elected.

You're foolish if you think street thugs vote.

No.....I have the links that show this happening in Chicago...

Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance



Baskin—who was himself a candidate in the 16th Ward aldermanic race, which he would lose—was happy to oblige. In all, he says, he helped broker meetings between roughly 30 politicians (ten sitting aldermen and 20 candidates for City Council) and at least six gang representatives. That claim is backed up by two other community activists, Harold Davis Jr. and Kublai K. M. Toure, who worked with Baskin to arrange the meetings, and a third participant, also a community activist, who requested anonymity. The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members.

The first meeting, according to Baskin, occurred in early November 2010, right before the statewide general election; more gatherings followed in the run-up to the February 2011 municipal elections. The venues included office buildings, restaurants, and law offices. (By all accounts, similar meetings took place across the city before last year’s elections and in elections past, including after hours at the Garfield Center, a taxpayer-financed facility on the West Side that is used by the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.)

At some of the meetings, the politicians arrived with campaign materials and occasionally with aides. The sessions were organized much like corporate-style job fairs. The gang representatives conducted hourlong interviews, one after the other, talking to as many as five candidates in a single evening. Like supplicants, the politicians came into the room alone and sat before the gang representatives, who sat behind a long table. “One candidate said, ‘I feel like I’m in the hot seat,’” recalls Baskin. “And they were.”

-----------



Our findings:

• While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of chores patronage armies once did.
• In some cases, the partnerships extend beyond the elections in troubling—and possibly criminal—ways, greased by the steady and largely secret flow of money from gang leaders to certain politicians and vice versa. The gangs funnel their largess through opaque businesses, or front companies, and through under-the-table payments. In turn, grateful politicians use their payrolls or campaign funds to hire gang members, pull strings for them to get jobs or contracts, or offer other favors (see“Gangs and Politicians: Prisoner Shuffle”).
• Most alarming, both law enforcement and gang sources say, is that some politicians ignore the gangs’ criminal activities. Some go so far as to protect gangs from the police, tipping them off to impending raids or to surveillance activities—in effect, creating safe havens in their political districts. And often they chafe at backing tough measures to stem gang activities, advocating instead for superficial solutions that may garner good press but have little impact.

The paradox is that Chicago’s struggle to combat street gangs is being undermined by its own elected officials. And the alliances between lawmakers and lawbreakers raise a troubling question: Who actually rules the neighborhoods—our public servants or the gangs?and how they affect sentencing and prison sentences...

I knew something like that was coming.

" The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members."

These are former gangbangers. They can say that they can mobilize active gang members, but I doubt strongly.

Might be nice for a politician to claim to have a "pet gang," in an attempt to have street cared in the district. Kind of like how Trump has the white supremacists.

My city has a movement of former gangbangers against gun violence as well. They hold rallies, speak to kids at our local community centers, hold signs up to bring awareness.. they have respect from the gangs and the community. It could potentially grow into a very beneficial alliance. We also have programs that encourage turning in handguns. Turn in a gun, get some cash in return, no questions asked. This program encourages police-community members working together, and gets a lot of guns on the streets that could have been used in countless more crimes.

No...those gun turn ins collect junk guns and crime guns ......they are a joke...

isn't "crime guns" what we want to collect?

 

[Aries]

Nope...but the concentration of gun crime is heavily in democrat voting districts....where they fight increasing prison sentences on repeat gun offenders...and where gangs help get democrat politicians elected.

You're foolish if you think street thugs vote.

No.....I have the links that show this happening in Chicago...

Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance



Baskin—who was himself a candidate in the 16th Ward aldermanic race, which he would lose—was happy to oblige. In all, he says, he helped broker meetings between roughly 30 politicians (ten sitting aldermen and 20 candidates for City Council) and at least six gang representatives. That claim is backed up by two other community activists, Harold Davis Jr. and Kublai K. M. Toure, who worked with Baskin to arrange the meetings, and a third participant, also a community activist, who requested anonymity. The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members.

The first meeting, according to Baskin, occurred in early November 2010, right before the statewide general election; more gatherings followed in the run-up to the February 2011 municipal elections. The venues included office buildings, restaurants, and law offices. (By all accounts, similar meetings took place across the city before last year’s elections and in elections past, including after hours at the Garfield Center, a taxpayer-financed facility on the West Side that is used by the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.)

At some of the meetings, the politicians arrived with campaign materials and occasionally with aides. The sessions were organized much like corporate-style job fairs. The gang representatives conducted hourlong interviews, one after the other, talking to as many as five candidates in a single evening. Like supplicants, the politicians came into the room alone and sat before the gang representatives, who sat behind a long table. “One candidate said, ‘I feel like I’m in the hot seat,’” recalls Baskin. “And they were.”

-----------



Our findings:

• While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of chores patronage armies once did.
• In some cases, the partnerships extend beyond the elections in troubling—and possibly criminal—ways, greased by the steady and largely secret flow of money from gang leaders to certain politicians and vice versa. The gangs funnel their largess through opaque businesses, or front companies, and through under-the-table payments. In turn, grateful politicians use their payrolls or campaign funds to hire gang members, pull strings for them to get jobs or contracts, or offer other favors (see“Gangs and Politicians: Prisoner Shuffle”).
• Most alarming, both law enforcement and gang sources say, is that some politicians ignore the gangs’ criminal activities. Some go so far as to protect gangs from the police, tipping them off to impending raids or to surveillance activities—in effect, creating safe havens in their political districts. And often they chafe at backing tough measures to stem gang activities, advocating instead for superficial solutions that may garner good press but have little impact.

The paradox is that Chicago’s struggle to combat street gangs is being undermined by its own elected officials. And the alliances between lawmakers and lawbreakers raise a troubling question: Who actually rules the neighborhoods—our public servants or the gangs?and how they affect sentencing and prison sentences...

I knew something like that was coming.

" The gang representatives were former chiefs who had walked away from day-to-day thug life, but they were still respected on the streets and wielded enough influence to mobilize active gang members."

These are former gangbangers. They can say that they can mobilize active gang members, but I doubt strongly.

Might be nice for a politician to claim to have a "pet gang," in an attempt to have street cared in the district. Kind of like how Trump has the white supremacists.

My city has a movement of former gangbangers against gun violence as well. They hold rallies, speak to kids at our local community centers, hold signs up to bring awareness.. they have respect from the gangs and the community. It could potentially grow into a very beneficial alliance. We also have programs that encourage turning in handguns. Turn in a gun, get some cash in return, no questions asked. This program encourages police-community members working together, and gets a lot of guns on the streets that could have been used in countless more crimes.

Anyone even contemplating guns for cash pgm. probably shouldn't own in the first place (generally speaking there are exceptions)

that's the point, it's not registered owners that are turning them in.. it's people who want cash that bring in unregistered guns.. unregistered guns that could be trafficked around, illegally sold, and used in the commision of a crime.

 

[Flash]

[Q


My city has a movement of former gangbangers against gun violence as well. They hold rallies, speak to kids at our local community centers, hold signs up to bring awareness.. they have respect from the gangs and the community. It could potentially grow into a very beneficial alliance. We also have programs that encourage turning in handguns. Turn in a gun, get some cash in return, no questions asked. This program encourages police-community members working together, and gets a lot of guns on the streets that could have been used in countless more crimes.

What city would that be?

How is it working out?

Sometimes our local police do something silly like have a firearm cash back program. It is always a hoot. We use that to dump the shithbird firearms that don't work.

Gang members don't work with the police. They con the police.

 

[Aries]

[Q


My city has a movement of former gangbangers against gun violence as well. They hold rallies, speak to kids at our local community centers, hold signs up to bring awareness.. they have respect from the gangs and the community. It could potentially grow into a very beneficial alliance. We also have programs that encourage turning in handguns. Turn in a gun, get some cash in return, no questions asked. This program encourages police-community members working together, and gets a lot of guns on the streets that could have been used in countless more crimes.

What city would that be?

How is it working out?

Sometimes our local police do something silly like have a firearm cash back program. It is always a hoot. We use that to dump the shithbird firearms that don't work.

Gang members don't work with the police. They con the police.

Well, most criminals aren't necessarily "gang members"... A lot of criminals commit crimes with the motive of making money off of it, so the cash reward is beneficial. The idea of no questions asked, is an extremely effective way of getting people to bring guns in. I'd prefer not to tell you what city I am in, but it is in NY. I don't know yet statistically how effective the program has been.
Just tossing out ideas.
I have also known police in my area to let certain crimes go if the person can produce a firearm to hand in- not sure how legal that is, but it happens. For example they'll pull over a young man, search his car, and find an ounce of marijuana. They say we'll forget about this weed if you can provide us with a gun to take off the street. The young man makes a couple calls, and produces a gun. Gun off the street, pothead avoided criminal charges, win-win situation.

 

[Flash]

[Q


My city has a movement of former gangbangers against gun violence as well. They hold rallies, speak to kids at our local community centers, hold signs up to bring awareness.. they have respect from the gangs and the community. It could potentially grow into a very beneficial alliance. We also have programs that encourage turning in handguns. Turn in a gun, get some cash in return, no questions asked. This program encourages police-community members working together, and gets a lot of guns on the streets that could have been used in countless more crimes.

What city would that be?

How is it working out?

Sometimes our local police do something silly like have a firearm cash back program. It is always a hoot. We use that to dump the shithbird firearms that don't work.

Gang members don't work with the police. They con the police.

Well, most criminals aren't necessarily "gang members"... A lot of criminals commit crimes with the motive of making money off of it, so the cash reward is beneficial. The idea of no questions asked, is an extremely effective way of getting people to bring guns in. I'd prefer not to tell you what city I am in, but it is in NY. I don't know yet statistically how effective the program has been.
Just tossing out ideas.
I have also known police in my area to let certain crimes go if the person can produce a firearm to hand in- not sure how legal that is, but it happens. For example they'll pull over a young man, search his car, and find an ounce of marijuana. They say we'll forget about this weed if you can provide us with a gun to take off the street. The young man makes a couple calls, and produces a gun. Gun off the street, pothead avoided criminal charges, win-win situation.

New York sucks. No wonder you are a pothead.

We firearms collectors just love these silly police buy back programs because it gives us a chance to get a little cash for worthless pieces of junk that has no market value. The police know it is a joke. It is not done for real value but has a publicity stunt for you Moon Bats.

 

[Aries]

[Q


My city has a movement of former gangbangers against gun violence as well. They hold rallies, speak to kids at our local community centers, hold signs up to bring awareness.. they have respect from the gangs and the community. It could potentially grow into a very beneficial alliance. We also have programs that encourage turning in handguns. Turn in a gun, get some cash in return, no questions asked. This program encourages police-community members working together, and gets a lot of guns on the streets that could have been used in countless more crimes.

What city would that be?

How is it working out?

Sometimes our local police do something silly like have a firearm cash back program. It is always a hoot. We use that to dump the shithbird firearms that don't work.

Gang members don't work with the police. They con the police.

Well, most criminals aren't necessarily "gang members"... A lot of criminals commit crimes with the motive of making money off of it, so the cash reward is beneficial. The idea of no questions asked, is an extremely effective way of getting people to bring guns in. I'd prefer not to tell you what city I am in, but it is in NY. I don't know yet statistically how effective the program has been.
Just tossing out ideas.
I have also known police in my area to let certain crimes go if the person can produce a firearm to hand in- not sure how legal that is, but it happens. For example they'll pull over a young man, search his car, and find an ounce of marijuana. They say we'll forget about this weed if you can provide us with a gun to take off the street. The young man makes a couple calls, and produces a gun. Gun off the street, pothead avoided criminal charges, win-win situation.

New York sucks. No wonder you are a pothead.

We firearms collectors just love these silly police buy back programs because it gives us a chance to get a little cash for worthless pieces of junk that has no market value. The police know it is a joke. It is not done for real value but has a publicity stunt for you Moon Bats.

you love them, the other citizens who make money love them, the cops who are padding their stats love them, and the lives are being saved by each gun being turned in love them..
so.... what's the issue?

 

[Little-Acorn]

Strict gun laws, elimination of criminal gangs and cutting the routes that bring guns and drugs into the country. Better social security and health care. Less differences in incomes, better schools, less corrupted government and police.

All of which have already been tried.

And none of which have worked.