What is going on in Chicago?!

[Gulo Blue]

http://time.com/71446/chicago-gun-violence-easter-weekend-45-people-shot/

Nine people were killed and 36 injured in shootings over the weekend, causing the newly formed Violent Crimes unit to focus on the endemic gun culture

No wonder MC is so in favor of gun laws.

 

[Monster]

Didn't read the article, but I'm guessing gang violence is the issue here? Simple solution...arrest and lock up anyone with gang ties. I don't care if they haven't been charged with a crime. The simple act of being in a violent organization should be enough to go to prison.

It's not like the police don't know who these people are. You don't let any of them out of prison once they're in there. Every gang that makes its money on crime, lock em up. Hell, include the bankers for fun.

As for the rest of the gun violence, there isn't much we can do at the moment. It's a sad reality, but people actually fear their government now for really bad reasons. There's absolutely no chance any of the gun laws will change. If Sandy Hook and the Batman killings didn't do it, nothing will.

 

[Michchamp]

well, it's mostly gang bangers killing eachother over drug-dealing territory, but gang bangers are usually not really good at what they do, and frequently hit innocent people nearby.

most of these shootings are confined to the west and far south sides of the city, and pretty far removed from where yuppies, hipsters, Oprah, and middle-class Chicagoans live; it's a big city, and its rare to actually be in a position where a shooting can occur. But man... if you live in a bad neighborho

I've lived here 8 years, and only know of one (1) person who was shot (I didn't know him personally. he was shot in the leg... he survived) but he was pretty stupid about the whole thing, basically putting himself in a bad situation.

it's far too easy for these gangs to get guns. if you read the comments to any given Tribune article involving a shooting, apparently the NRA employs an army of people (or maybe Bots?) to start ranting about how Illinois' restrictive gun laws allow more shootings to happen... whatever. these incidents don't involve criminals coming up and preying on innocent (i.e. non gang-affiliated) civilians, so it's hard to see how more guns would prevent these crimes. The NRA-mouthbreathers are pretty stupid. What we need are tougher regulations around the sale of firearms, closing loopholes for private dealers, etc., in not only Chicago, but all the nearby states. Or at least for handguns... no reason anyone should be able to buy those without a draconian background check, and this should not even be a 2nd Amendment issue; have your rifles for your well-regulated militia if you want.

 

[zyxt9]

how many guns used by the gangs were purchased legally? I'm betting zero, but maybe I'm wrong. If I'm correct, please explain how better restrictions on legal gun sales will decrease the sale of the illegal guns used by the gangs, as I do not see the connection between gun laws preventing gang hits.

 

[TheVictors]

Problem is that Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. Now, if Chicago didn't have such stringent gun laws, there wouldn't be a gun epidemic like that seen in Dodge City in the 1870's.

Too many gun laws = lots of shootings by people who are protesting gun laws. It's a classic inverse correlation ...like the Catholic school girl who will screw any guy because she's been so sexually repressed her whole life ....or the child raised vegan who eats nothing but hot dogs and salisbury steak as an adult.

(and really with the guns in Chicago it's all Black on Black violence for the most part. Now should the violence hit a Chicago equivalent to the affluent Westwood area of LA as happened in the 80's when Crips/Bloods violence spilled over into whiteywood ...then you may have a real response)

 

[Sbee]

A lot of the deaths occur in the ambulance because only northwestern has gunshot trauma units. People get shot on the south side and west side but they go past rush and a bunch of other hospitals on their way to nw.

I don't think the solution is to have strict drug laws that keep putting people in prison so a generation grows up with their fathers incarcerated and become more likely to go to prison themselves.

 

[Thumb]

I don't think the solution is to have strict drug laws that keep putting people in prison so a generation grows up with their fathers incarcerated and become more likely to go to prison themselves.

Not sure they would be great role models even if they weren't incarcerated. You can't blame the problem on the solution, no matter if the solution is great or not.

 

[Sbee]

Not sure they would be great role models even if they weren't incarcerated. You can't blame the problem on the solution, no matter if the solution is great or not.

The gun violence is a symptom, not the problem. Drug laws, mass incarceration, and lack of economic opportunity is the bigger issue.

Good luck trying to fight the supply side of the drug war. It's not good for anyone other than the for profit prisons and cops concerned with conviction stats

 

[Michchamp]

The gun violence is a symptom, not the problem. Drug laws, mass incarceration, and lack of economic opportunity is the bigger issue.

Good luck trying to fight the supply side of the drug war. It's not good for anyone other than the for profit prisons and cops concerned with conviction stats

they closed a bunch of schools on the south side this passed year too.

the amount of money the government spends on black areas is always lower than white areas. often way lower. visit them and you see their parks are neglected, their roads are pot-holed filled messes, their sidewalks are crumbling, the schools are older and less frequent (requiring them to travel farther to get there), and even mass transit has fewer options... less stops, less convenient routes.

contrary to what complete race-baiting dumb fucks think, blacks are not "getting lazy on the government dime." The situation is a lot more complicated than that, and it's been literally over a century of systematic racism that got them where they were, not a couple decades of unemployment benefits.

it would take a generation of government intervention to start to improve things, and the political will to get that done is just non-existent.

 

[grandy]

the amount of money the government spends on black areas is always lower than white areas. often way lower. visit them and you see their parks are neglected, their roads are pot-holed filled messes, their sidewalks are crumbling, the schools are older and less frequent (requiring them to travel farther to get there), and even mass transit has fewer options... less stops, less convenient routes.

http://rapgenius.com/1628866

 

[Michchamp]

http://rapgenius.com/1628866

and all that's on top of being more likely to be impoverished or lower income to begin with.

and check this out... and Chicago is not unique in this regard. I've often wondered how some of the dumb upper-middle class kids I went to grade school with would be doing if they had been born a different race and to parents in Detroit. they'd have been in and out of jail too, moving from low wage job to low wage job, unemployment, food stamps, etc. instead of going to Central or Ferris State and getting some easy sales rep job (or as they prefer to be known "account executive.") at a large corporation or dad's friend's business.

 

[TheVictors]

Chicago was a mess when I lived there as a kid in the early-80's ...esp the South side. And it was a by product of systemic, multi-decade policy and somewhat covert suppression. It's nothing new but when well-to-do white folks talk about "pulling oneself up by their own bootstraps" they're presuming everyone was born with the same boots.

And nothing wrong with "account executives" now

 

[Michchamp]

.

And nothing wrong with "account executives" now

Duly noted!

There are account executives... and then there are "account executives" you went to grade school/high school with who have linked-in profile pics of themselves drunk at a party, with people on either side of them cropped out. there are like a half-dozen people I know like that.

 

[TheVictors]

Heh..

We have three phone-based reps in our crew and one of them was made "desk manager" to simply handle the day-to-day (sick cat, broke down car ..) that I couldn't traveling so much.

He asked me, "so what's my title? How about National Sales Manager or National Sales Desk Manager ...?"

I said, "you can call yourself the Deputy Prime Minister of the Phones for all I care but remember, your 'Nation' consists of precisely two people"

 

[Gulo Blue]

Heh..

We have three phone-based reps in our crew and one of them was made "desk manager" to simply handle the day-to-day (sick cat, broke down car ..) that I couldn't traveling so much.

He asked me, "so what's my title? How about National Sales Manager or National Sales Desk Manager ...?"

I said, "you can call yourself the Deputy Prime Minister of the Phones for all I care but remember, your 'Nation' consists of precisely two people"

I wanted my title to be "Chief Science Officer", but there's paperwork and probably legal requirements associated with establishing officer positions. Not really worth it since I only want that title because it was Spock's title.

 

[Michchamp]

I wanted my title to be "Chief Science Officer", but there's paperwork and probably legal requirements associated with establishing officer positions. Not really worth it since I only want that title because it was Spock's title.

Chief science officer of what? This message board?

 

[Gulo Blue]

Chief science officer of what? This message board?

I work at a startup. My 'nation' also consists of precisely 2 people, so there a similar degree of title flexibility.

 

[Sbee]

I'm about to hop on the orange line at midway, pray for me

 

[Michchamp]

I'm about to hop on the orange line at midway, pray for me

Don't go off your meds and rant at people there , get arrested, get released by asshole cops in the middle of the hood, get thrown out of (or maybe jump from) a third floor crack house window, and end up a vegetable for the rest of your life like that one lady.

 

[Sbee]

Don't go off your meds and rant at people there , get arrested, get released by asshole cops in the middle of the hood, get thrown out of (or maybe jump from) a third floor crack house window, and end up a vegetable for the rest of your life like that one lady.

That's a typical day for me.