9 people shot dead this weekend

N Sperlo wrote: Yup. Heard some gun shots the other day. It was so normal I slowly walked to my partner, laughed and said, "gunshots again". Come to find out, a guy was killed four blocks away. I was surprised to not read about any homicides this week. I did see two pedestrians were injured during a "rolling shooting".

First time I ever flew into Miami, not even 10 minutes out of the airport, cruising in the rental with the windows rolled down, gunshots I lived in a smaller city that is ranked in Alberta as "high" for crime, but I've never heard gunshots in a city in 26 years of living in them, two of the cities over 1 million people.

The craziest thing? There weren't any sirens after.

neon4891 wrote:

pres589 wrote: In reply to T.J.: Agreed on drug legalization 100%.

Because organized crime magically vanished after prohibition ended.

Thanks for that, exactly what I was going to say. Even things as benign as alcohol, cigarettes, and FRIGGIN MAPLE SYRUP have a black market.

Criminals are criminals because you get more when you don't follow the rules and it is a lifestyle. Its not like they will be all "well, that value proposition dried up, guess I better get a real job!" lol

In reply to HiTempguy:

Do you know how entirely different this country would be if drugs were legalized? I'm talking about police efforts going towards other things, prison populations, treatment, etc etc. Look at Colorado before and after weed was legalized. There's reasons Mexican drug cartels are not excited about the legalization of drugs as well.

In reply to aircooled:

Oppressive overlord approach works well in many areas of the world.

I'm also sure we arent the easiest country to gain access to weapons either. In many 3rd world nations you could buy a functioning full auto AK rifle for $100usd or less.

In reply to yamaha:

"Oppressive overlord approach works well in many areas of the world."

Can you name some of these wonderful places? Would you want to live in them?

In reply to pres589:

I would not want to live in them personally, but that would be due to probably being one of the ones delt with for having a different opinion. They'd probably kill every single one of us for various reasons. All you have to look for are select African and southeast Asian nations. Usually run by militias or dictators.

As far as your drug legalization, it would be OK until those criminals started screwing the tax man. Most wouldn't go legit.

Aren't most of the firearms used in these crimes old E36 M3ty .38 revolvers and Saturday night specials in .22lr, .25, or .32acp?

In reply to yamaha:

I think what you just said is that they don't actually work well at all, they're just temporarily functioning.

In reply to pres589:

They work well as far as crime, which is where you missed the point. Being a place you would want to live is probably subjective.

rotard wrote: Aren't most of the firearms used in these crimes old E36 M3ty .38 revolvers and Saturday night specials in .22lr, .25, or .32acp?

Usually old and E36 M3ty, but that doesn't mean any of those. I have a collection of bullets we've picked up off the street from folks firing in the air or rolling shootings. I've picked up 9mm, .32, .38, .45... The .22 is the ultimate cheap trash throw-away gun, but we've seen cars roll up on others and unload with an AK-47. We've also seen guys hanging out of cars shooting an FA pistol at another car.

It comes down to whatever the guys can steal and sell on the street for a couple hundred bucks. The dealing gangs can get whatever they want.

In a way you're right in believeing that most are E36 M3ty guns, but the more dangerous weapons are definately avalable to anyone who wants them for the right price.

In reply to yamaha:

Wait, so youre saying that the oppressive dictatorship works great to control crime, but we would probably all be killed if we lived there. Im confused. So if a government agent kills me its a decent setup, but if some shiny happy person kills me its much worse?

yamaha wrote: As far as your drug legalization, it would be OK until those criminals started screwing the tax man. Most wouldn't go legit.

As opposed to all the tax money the cartels are paying now?

You guys really come up with interesting theories.

The best way to beat crime is to not report it and lie about the crime rates in your country, which is I'm sure what most dictators do.

In reply to gearheadmb:

He still hasn't named one of these evil utopias so I don't know that I'd put a lot of stock in his premise. If we had some, oh I don't know, statics and evidence to support these options then maybe we'd have a real discussion.

pres589 wrote: In reply to gearheadmb: He still hasn't named one of these evil utopias so I don't know that I'd put a lot of stock in his premise. If we had some, oh I don't know, statics and evidence to support these options then maybe we'd have a real discussion.

Singapore. Almost no crime. Why? No free speech. No illegal search and seizure rules. No privacy. You break the rules... you pay and pay berkeleying hard. Wanna complain? Enjoy your caning. Tag a wall with the word "Democracy" take 3 months of hard time and a bunch of lashes with a cane. Sneak a small amount of weed in your purse? They KILL you. But, I hear it can be very enjoyable if you aren't doing anything wrong and keep your mouth shut.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-24428567

Oddly, South Korea seems to be doing better than Singapore. I'm pretty sure S. Korea is less draconian than Singapore.

ref: http://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp

There's a lot that goes into crime. I'm not sure if we can simply try to elevate punishment to encourage improvement. It's not where I'd personally like to see us go as a nation if we're to improve on the situation.

The police chief came out on TV before the weekend started.

100% of the cops will work the weekend on 12 hour shifts. I missed the news last night so I didn't hear his reply.

pres589 wrote: In reply to HiTempguy: Do you know how entirely different this country would be if drugs were legalized?

Probably not different at all. Legalizing drugs does not get rid of the addicts. Legality of drugs is not the root cause of your problems. The problem is American's love drugs It will not get rid of the gangs, in fact, it might make them more violent trying to fight for the smaller market share.

So do tell? Surprisingly enough, you guys don't have an incarceration problem as much as some would have you believe. The US has an incredible justice and enforcement system that does a good job of apprehending people. Incarceration rates would go down admittingly, but that isn't justification for looser drug laws. Just because something is hard, doesn't mean it isn't worth pursuing.

At the end of the day, a lot of this comes back to the American mindset and culture. And that isn't something that is easy to change.

No, but legalizing and treating it like the public health issue it is (and treating the addicts) is a much better solution than locking up hundreds of thousands of non-violent offenders.

The resources needed to do so would be much better utilized elsewhere.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

That was indeed one of them, hell, they'll toss you in a cage for liking a Facebook page they don't approve of.

There are plenty others, but my time is valuable, so I'm not bothering to waste it on his overly optimistic demands.

rcutclif wrote: The best way to beat crime is to not report it and lie about the crime rates in your country, which is I'm sure what most dictators do.

We do too.

pres589 wrote: Do you know how entirely different this country would be if drugs were legalized? I'm talking about police efforts going towards other things, prison populations, treatment, etc etc. Look at Colorado before and after weed was legalized.

No, tell us about it. What I hear from Colorado isn't all hearts and roses.

spitfirebill wrote:

pres589 wrote: Do you know how entirely different this country would be if drugs were legalized? I'm talking about police efforts going towards other things, prison populations, treatment, etc etc. Look at Colorado before and after weed was legalized.

No, tell us about it. What I hear from Colorado isn't all hearts and roses.

What have you heard? (I'm genuinely curious)

T.J. wrote: Why will it not even make the news? The lack of media coverage of this when they focus on other shootings in other cities is perplexing to me.

How were you able to find out the numbers and city, the media blackout on this is impenetrable? Do you have to go to the dark web???

In reply to grpb:

Its nothing new, just Chicago being Chicago. Hence why there is no outrage.

Canada, would you like to annex Chicago?