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Gangs, poverty and large populated cities go hand in hand.
Most of the state is rural.
Gangs are not interested in corn, livestock or miles of open spaces.
Aurora invested in more diversion programs and cracked down on gang leadership. THeir murders have plummeted.
Let's put it out on the table, a lot of big cities just don't have a problem with piles of dead gang members. They don't want to spend the money or political capital to fix the problem. It's just easier to blame guns and they are insulated from claims of racism and major protests because of political affiliation.
That's really the bottom line. They don't care enough to seriously tackle the problem and they get a pass so there are no repercussions. They just have to mock those gun toting rednecks out there in the miles of open space and blame them for whats going on in their own backyard.
Legalize currently illegal drugs and the bottom drops out of the illegal market. Without the illegality the gangs would and could not make any money. Then these areas would see even worse poverty.
Oh, I get it - by disarming the good people, the bad people won't do harm.
Phew.
I thought there was something I missed.
As if the weapons these gangs use come from the gun stores and sportin shops anyway. Wbere WE, the honest types get our firearms. The gangs use smuggled and stolen weapons, from all over the world. Domestic stuff they get, is, certainly, stolen, from homes and armories. #s ground off, and, here ya go Mr. Banger. Instant throwaway bang bang.
"Small" pockets of the city still covers a lot. We are not talking hobby farms, here. This is vast territory. Hundreds, even thousands, of acres, held by bandits and warlords. What else should we call them? Thats what they are. They know who the players are. Take em' out!! Let the decent folks fight back!
When the rats keep destroying the grain, you control the rats.
Which takes us back in a big old circle. IL has maybe 700 gun deaths a year with 500ish in Chicago and 400 of those gang related per city estimates of 80% gang related shootings.
The current national dialogue is for federal gun laws to solve the US gun violence issue.
There is no serious national dialogue about gangs and I suspect that's because it's a less politically attractive topic.
Laws mean nothing to gangs or whack jobs.
Millions of Blacks migrated from the rural South to the North for jobs in factories, mills, meatpacking and railroads and concentrated in large cities where the jobs were. They had a shot at the lower rungs of middle class. Other no skill jobs like office cleaning and some municipal work were dominated by European immigrant groups.
The migration was not met with open arms. Blacks were rarely welcome to live or work side by side with whites. As you know, there have been long time exceptions in the greater Chicago area. The western part of Evanston has been predominately black for generations. South Shore is another area that attracted educated and employed black people.
Then came the projects- warehouses for the masses of poor of any race. These are not unlike the projects in Russian cities with similar outcomes.
Over time, outsourcing and technology killed most opportunities for low/no skilled/uneducated workers of all races. Those jobs are never coming back.
I tend to see many similarities between urban black kids and the mobs of youths in the middle east. There are substantially fewer global opportunities for people with no skills or education than ever before. People without hope often have nothing to lose.
Increase the safety so entrepreneurs can invest in those neighborhoods.
What funding are you talking about? Drugs?
Making all drugs legal creates new problems and further breaks down cultures and values. If all drugs were legal those addicted still have to get the money to acquire the drugs. Those addicted to the hard core drugs are generally unreliable and thus, less likely to be employed. It's more efficient to steal than toil.
The countries with the least trafficking and related crimes are those that have chosen to take the hardest line. Shoot to kill put a serious damper on China's Opium trade. The consequence of a public hanging stops most people in Singapore from considering drugs. Lose a limb or two if caught in Saudi Arabia, if you are lucky. Nations with the least enforcement tend to have the greatest addiction/trafficking problems. I am talking about Russia, here.
Rehab ( big business in the U.S. ) does not cure addiction. Unless an addict is highly motivated to stop and change their thinking, reactions, people, places and things in their life, they will likely relapse, hard.
Investors invest when they expect a return on their investment. Investing in poor neighborhoods generally does not have a good ROI because people do not have a lot of money to spend and crime takes a huge toll off the bottom line. Food deserts happen for a reason.
Making all drugs legal creates new problems and further breaks down cultures and values. If all drugs were legal those addicted still have to get the money to acquire the drugs. Those addicted to the hard core drugs are generally unreliable and thus, less likely to be employed. It's more efficient to steal than toil.
What bigger problem could we have now? We have some of the highest addiction rates in the world and some of the most violent neighborhoods in the world where those drugs are distributed. History has shown that Prohibition does not work and only increases corruption and violence.
The countries with the least trafficking and related crimes are those that have chosen to take the hardest line. Shoot to kill put a serious damper on China's Opium trade. The consequence of a public hanging stops most people in Singapore from considering drugs. Lose a limb or two if caught in Saudi Arabia, if you are lucky. Nations with the least enforcement tend to have the greatest addiction/trafficking problems. I am talking about Russia, here.
I'm sorry, but why should somebody lose a limb for personal consumption? What reasoning are you using? I don't think we should take advice from China. Or Saudia Arabia.
Rehab ( big business in the U.S. ) does not cure addiction. Unless an addict is highly motivated to stop and change their thinking, reactions, people, places and things in their life, they will likely relapse, hard.
I know multiple people who have broken addictions to hard drugs. Multiple. Meth. Cocaine. Alcohol.
Investors invest when they expect a return on their investment. Investing in poor neighborhoods generally does not have a good ROI because people do not have a lot of money to spend and crime takes a huge toll off the bottom line. Food deserts happen for a reason.
Some making a living off of it. Usually its other factors (safety, etc) that keep entrepreneurs out. If I had the start-up capital I have a great plan to insert new businesses into the Southside of Chicago. It's prime for investment after the underlying issues are addressed. There's also tons of young people who need affordable housing and a place to call home. If the crime issues are fixed, its a perfect opportunity to meet a select demand.
Legalize currently illegal drugs and the bottom drops out of the illegal market. Without the illegality the gangs would and could not make any money. Then these areas would see even worse poverty.
But there would still be territorial and turf wars, even if drugs were legalized.
One drug pusher tries to sell outside of his/her territory would still be subjected to violence.
You only admitted to being wrong because I called you out on it.
Right, you called me out on it, which forced me to further question my own claim, in which I discovered I was wrong..... so?
Quote:
Originally Posted by middle-aged mom
80% +/- of these shootings are gang related.
Why are we complaining then? That means only 20% are the real problem, and no, I'm not joking. Are you seriously losing sleep over one scumbag shooting another? I'm not. They aren't exactly innocent victims you know.
Quote:
Gangs, poverty and large populated cities go hand in hand.
So then it sounds like the problem is gang violence { not "gun" violence } brought on by an overly populated area in which youth have very few viable options as far as education/employment goes, and so turn to gangs.
That's a big list of problems right there, so why is it you think tighter restrictions on firearms would solve any of that?
Quote:
Most of the state is rural. Gangs are not interested in corn, livestock or miles of open spaces.
So then leave the rights of those of us who live in those areas alone, since we are clearly not the problem, and focus your attention and efforts on cities, where they should rightly be.
I just don't get sme of you people...... you basically admit that guns are not the problem, and still push for tighter laws anyway as if it will somehow help.
Right, you called me out on it, which forced me to further question my own claim, in which I discovered I was wrong..... so?
Why are we complaining then? That means only 20% are the real problem, and no, I'm not joking. Are you seriously losing sleep over one scumbag shooting another? I'm not. They aren't exactly innocent victims you know.
So then it sounds like the problem is gang violence { not "gun" violence } brought on by an overly populated area in which youth have very few viable options as far as education/employment goes, and so turn to gangs.
That's a big list of problems right there, so why is it you think tighter restrictions on firearms would solve any of that?
So then leave the rights of those of us who live in those areas alone, since we are clearly not the problem, and focus your attention and efforts on cities, where they should rightly be.
I just don't get sme of you people...... you basically admit that guns are not the problem, and still push for tighter laws anyway as if it will somehow help.
The "scumbags" aren't the ones being killed, that's the problem.
They should go to some type of school to help them improve their aim and handling of firearms, so they don't shoot innocent people.
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