The city of Baltimore is hurting. With 200 murders this year and counting (a rate faster than ever before) it’s obvious that the “business as usual” mentality isn’t working. Something needs to be done to stop the bloodshed. As usual with Democrat-controlled municipalities, the blame for these tragic events is placed not on the perpetrators but instead on the inanimate tools they use to commit their crimes.
A perfect illustration of this mentality happened last night as the legislators in Baltimore narrowly decided against a mandatory minimum jail sentence on those convicted of illegally carrying a firearm within city limits, that crime should only be met with a small fine.
From the Baltimore Sun:
[T]he Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee voted last month to gut the bill and move an amended version of the legislation to the full 15-member council — making the legislation little different from existing state law except for adding a $1,000 fine.
The committee unanimously adopted a pair of amendments that would make the mandatory sentence apply only on a second offense or if someone was carrying a gun “in connection with” a crime against a person or property.
Existing state laws provide a mandatory minimum one-year term on a second handgun-possession offense. They also require a five-year mandatory sentence for using guns in connection with violent crimes or drug dealing or possessing them as a felon.
This highlights a strange cognitive dissonance within the Democrat machine that runs Baltimore. They unanimously identify firearms as evil objects, things that as councilman John Bullock put it, are “inherently tools of violence that result in the loss of life.” And yet these same city fathers refuse to enact policies that would punish those who seek out and use those inherently evil objects. The crimes are repugnant, but they refuse to punish the perpetrators.
With shining examples like Chicago and Baltimore, it’s apparent that “feel good” legislation isn’t going to have an impact on reducing soaring crime rates. Law and order can only be enforced if punishment is swift, severe, and certain — otherwise there’s no real deterrent and criminals will continue acting with impunity.
In Chicago, less than 30% of all murders eventually result in an arrested. Convictions are even fewer. Baltimore hovers at around 50%. If the odds of arrest (just an arrest, not a conviction) for a given a murder aren’t better than the flip of a coin, what real deterrence exists to keep criminals from pulling the trigger?
The politicians in Baltimore don’t seem concerned.They appear to prefer to take pity on murderers, encouraging the violence to continue.
Is the author in favor of stronger gun control measures or against them?
You are likely confused by the rampant examples from lamestream fake news media in recent decades, but the personal views of a “REAL” “Journalist” will not be apparent to the reader.
Perhaps Baltimore could punish the illegal USE of a firearm to commit a crime? Unless while an oppressed “minority” of course.
I fail to see what gun control or lack of same has to do with criminal justice. Seems like they have plenty of gun control in Baltimore. What they lack is criminal justice.
Just pointing out the stupidity and hipocracy in Democratic policies. On one hand they shot ‘guns are evil and kill people at will’ so they harshly punish gun owners who obey the law while simultaneously letting criminals and murderers using guns walk free. Those who are actually arrested are rarely prosecuted and even if they are it’s usually a slap on the wrist at worst
If that was my beloved V8 Holden sedan, I would have killed every one of those savage animals, or died trying.
It made me literally sick to look at that picture.
You are confusing social engineering with criminal justice.
“Gun Control” is about making guns themselves evil, thus (in theory) making it easier to dismantle the second amendment and make guns illegal.
Criminal justice is (again, in theory) about making society safe from criminals, through the meting out of punishments to fit the crime.
In the case illustrated above, the city “leaders” have adopted the ethos of “hate the tool, love the tool user.” Well, that’s only partially right; in fact, the low arrest rate demonstrates a lack of ability to do what’s necessary (and, usually, legal) in order to even identify the tool user, in order to keep their “leaders” from the embarrassment of even having to confront the tool users (who are, unfortunately, overwhelmingly of the dark skinned persuasion, and therefore, “disadvantaged,” and not responsible for their actions).
To think this is just an unfortunate inability to keep the citizens of their fair city safe is just wrong. It’s a carefully planned strategy to make more “victims” that the left can promise (but never actually deliver) salvation.
Conspiracy theory? Maybe. But it fits the observed facts well, with no other believable theory present.
Even if they pass strong laws, they have to be enforced. The elected prosecutor isn’t going to enforce them. Remember ‘room to destroy?’ The police? Well, I’m not sure they can enforce them in the environment of Baltimore. And even if they could, why bother? If you grab some gangbanger with a gun on him you know he’s going to be out the next day anyway unless he just used it to kill someone. Why bother when every interaction you have has the real potential to turn into the latest racial narrative point?
Things will get worse and eventually start to even out when the gangs kill enough of each other to reach something like an equilibrium. Eventually the residents might ‘demand’ action but they won’t be willing to do what’s necessary to get it.
I disagree with your last paragraph. Gang wars can go on forever. Residents could accept whatever comes. Most do. It’s not hard to leave for greener pastures.
It actually can be when you’re on the lower end of the economic scale. Not impossible, mind you, but it definitely can be quite hard.
I’ve always disagreed with that. Public housing is available all over the country. Jobs that don’t require any experience are available all over the country. They aren’t good jobs, but they’re available. All anyone needs to leave their town is enough money for a bus ticket.
Oppressed gun owners in California also have a difficult time moving to greener pastures as well.
“Things will get worse and eventually start to even out when the gangs kill enough of each other to reach something like an equilibrium”
They reached that point in Chicago *decades* ago.
Is Chicago improving?
Oh I didn’t say it would improve. But there is a finite amount of people in a city, and therefore a limit of violence before the offenders are literally killing themselves out at a rate equal to that in which people are becoming violent offenders. Chicago wasn’t at that level 10 years ago, and might not even be there now.
There are a finite number of people in given instant but averaged over time the number of people available grows faster than the rate of death (or in this case murder).
Violence will be cyclical where certain periods are drastically higher than others. But gang wars will never be violent enough actually change the population numbers significantly enough to impact the rates of violence. Right now the number of murders in Chicago accounts for something like 0.015% of the total population. And it’s been stable at ~2.7 million for decades now despite having constitently high gang violence and murder rates throughout that period.
Nothing short of hundreds of murders per day will have an effect on the availability of warm bodies (soon to be room temp) for gangs to draw from. Then you’re talking about devastation on the population that would actually cause young kids to turn to gangs in larger numbers for ‘protection’ and by then one would hope the national guard would be called in
There is no cognitive dissonance at all: all those perpetrators and their sympathizers are VOTERS and politicians will not risk alienating a large chunk of their voting base.
As warped as Democrat politicians are, they are smart enough to make sure they do not bite the hand that feeds them (votes).
“As warped as Democrat politicians are, they are smart enough to make sure they do not bite the hand that feeds them (votes).”
They bite those hands all the time. Look at Democrat-controlled cities: their citizens have to put up with inept leadership (although that’s not limited to only the Dems), high crime rates, poor city services, and much more.
That’s biting the hand that feed you.
So, how do the Dems continue their winning in these cities? Because they promise to fix things. The promise, by itself, is enough for most people. When the promise falls flat, the leadership fires someone, apologizes, and the status remains quo. ( I hate to say this, but that sounds sort of like the Trump administration, doesn’t it?)
The cure can be one of two things: leave, or become educated enough to vote intelligently. Unfortunately, the first is usually the easiest.
You know, as I was reading this article, I started to wonder if Baltimore city politicians do not want to drop the hammer on mere handgun possession because they themselves want to carry handguns and don’t want to risk prison time.
Of course, if Baltimore city politicians really are able to get the vaporware known as a Maryland concealed carry license, then they would have no self-interest in minimizing sanctions for mere handgun possession. Or maybe they want minimal penalties for their close family/friends who want to carry handguns for self-defense yet cannot get Maryland concealed carry licenses.
Hey as long as it’s folks that support liberal/democrat policies (minorities, SJW, criminals, antifa etc) government does not seem inclined to enforce the law and punish transgressors.
LE in Durham is promising to ID the folks who destroyed county property in front of a county government building last night. I guess it wasnt possible to ID and stop these “protestors” in the act of doing so…while you’re standing right there. But then again, these “protestors” were right (left?) thinking people.
Gee 200 murders already? That’s waaaaay worse percentage wise than Chiraq. My son lives a scant 10miles away and assures me it’s “safe”. Oh well…yeah another dumbocrat paradise😎
Baltimore is a strange town. Parts of it ARE safe. I wouldn’t worry much about walking around at night in the inner-harbor after hitting the bars. But you had better make sure you don’t wander too far, because you can cross over into another world if you’re not careful.
You might as well say parts of Chicago ARE safe as well.
I don’t think mere possession of a firearm should be illegal. Therefore I disagree with any sentences for mere possession, much less mandatory minimums.
I do support enhancements for crimes of violence (or the threat of violence) when a weapon is used. (Any weapon, not just guns).
Couldn’t agree more. Sure would have been nice if the article had explained what “illegal possession” meant. For instance, some out of stater driving through Baltimore and is caught with a firearm and doesn’t have the requisite Baltimore/Maryland paperwork. How many on this site think that should be a crime of any kind, much less a mandatory jail sentence.
Much bluster here, not much thought.
No wonder we aren’t taken seriously by middle of the road folks. We sound as radical as the gun grabbers.
I did forget to mention that I get the point Nick is making with the article that the politicians are screaming how evil guns and gun owners are, but the politicians refuse to punish this “evil.”
“I do support enhancements for crimes of violence (or the threat of violence) when a weapon is used. (Any weapon, not just guns).”
I have to disagree. I accept the idea of “enhanced penalties” when a crime involves *violence*, regardless of what weapon, if any, is involved. If you accept a slap on the wrist for attempted murder because no weapon was involved, then you have to accept the possibility/probability that you will soon see the same criminal tried for murder, with a gun, when he tries again. Perhaps we could get together around an idea like enhancing a penalty when a prohibited person uses a gun in a violent crime, since he has been warned previously.
I didn’t say anything about a slap on the wrist when a weapon wasn’t involved. Just an increase in penalty when a weapon is involved.
Have they ruled out environmental factors?
Hey now, don’t scoff. In Chicago, some are looking into how temperature correlates to crime. http://crime.static-eric.com
Global Warming the silent killer… I hear Al Gore has a new movie coming out.
Yep! and AC makes babies.
Warm weather does correlate closely with homicide, and it’s not incidental. Hot weather makes ‘urban’ folks go crazy. I have some theories involving wearing less clothes and how that can cause and be seen as a sign of aggression (depending on gender) but I haven’t been able to test it yet, still awaiting a grant.
Global warming affects the coldest days more than the warmest. For instance, if the temperature were to warm an average of 3 degrees, you’d get a 5 degree difference in the winter and a 1 degree difference in the summer. The impact on violent crime would not be nearly so dramatic as global warming alarmists would have you believe.
Outlaw hot weather!! Excellent! That’s probably why Austin has so many more murders than Chicago! Oops …
Here’s how they all think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ady6XUKJPw8
Lord I though Maxine Waters and Hellery were some kind of ugly. The Demtards have some homely broads on their team.
If guns voted and made payoffs to line the pockets of Democrats, the politicians would be huge fans of 2A. But it turns out that guns are inanimate objects and gangsters have way more votes and money to spread around.
Not just gansters but ‘anti-gang\violence initiatives.’ You know, “former” gang members paid to be “violence interrupters” and centers set up to mentor kids after school and such. On paper.
Funny thing, though, if you actually take what is supposed to exist on paper and drive by you might find that those ‘violence interrupters’ aren’t doing anything, at best, except accepting some ‘walking around money… if they even exist. And those centers have boarded up windows because they’re closed for renovations- all the time. The money is real, though. And it has a way of slipping through the cracks and into pockets all along the way.
In Chicago, for example, they have 50 ‘aldermen’ (city council members). Chicago ‘needs’ a city council half the size of the US Senate? And over a period of about 30 years, if you work out the numbers, 1/3 of the serving aldermen were convicted of corruption. Which means the other 2/3 were smart enough not to get caught.
As with Chicago, the violence is primarily contained within certain neighborhoods, and with very little difference between the victims and criminals. Someone is going to have to remind me why we would do anything to disrupt these results. Until this violence starts branching out into communities where the people are paying taxes, I’d be doing everything in my power to maintain the status quo, at the very least. Leaving crates of 9mm guns and ammo around to be “stolen”, like the great “Ruger Train Robbery”, should be a monthly occurrence.
The photo looks like they were shooting their new triple platinum selling “song” video. It’s good to see the kids taking an active role in the future of ————. (insert $hithole city)
Might as well be a Beyonce album
Nick is pointing out the stupidity in democrats policies, where by they say ‘guns are evil killers’ then punish law abiding gun owners and let criminals and murderers using guns walk free (since arrest is a flip of the coin and prosecution is even less likely)
Look at all those racist, white supremacist, Trump-supporters destroying that patrol car! Oh, wait…
Baltimore. Another sh!thole controlled by Democrats with out of control crime. Democrats are perfectly fine with turning their cities into miniature 3rd world countries. As long as they are in control, who cares, right?
“They appear to prefer to take pity on murderers, encouraging the violence to continue.”
and are more concerned about statues of people who enslaved blacks 150 years ago than people that are killing blacks TODAY
when you can’t solve today’s actual problems you invent problems to solve in an effort to maintain anything that resembles relevancy
I have finished my research (no grant needed), if you wish to get away with murder, then simply persuade your intended victim to move to Baltimore, or better yet Chicago.
Look, let’s just cut to the executive summary here:
Baltimore is following Detroit’s trajectory – faster, and for the same reasons that took Detroit down. There’s nothing we can do about it from here, and changing Baltimore’s gun laws won’t do much to change their trajectory now. What is needed to change Baltimore’s future is a wholesale replacement of their political leadership, and that’s not going to happen without a wholesale replacement of their voter base. That’s not going to happen, so the only thing that can be done by rational, intelligent people is to observe the situation from a comfortable remove, shake one’s head and say “Ain’t that a shame…”
Detroit has a mayoral election coming up. Half of the candidates are convicted felons, and the other half haven’t been caught yet.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/08/02/half-detroit-mayoral-candidates-felony-convictions/104244406/
Even criminals have the right to self protection. While it may be illegal to carry a gun, better to carry one if others are gunning for you. a few weeks(or months) on high bail waiting for trial(or dismissal) may be a great way for these kids to decide to turn thier lives around. Offer an alternative, like CCC in Ca, to work 6 months on government upkeep, could teach them how to work and give them some skills.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
In 12 months time all welfare programs will be subject to reform. All welfare recipients will be drug screened and will be put to work in and around the community. Failure to comply with the new regulations will result in immediately being dropped from any government programs.
*note.
There are A LOT of white folk on welfare too.
You sold me! Seems pretty obvious.
The residents of Baltimore are just like the residents of San Francisco. Loosened drug laws in SF and a permissive attitude about the homeless has people openly shooting up their favorite addiction substance in public. TTAG has already discussed this. A libertarian utopia. And street crime is through the roof. We will see if Kate Steinle’s murderer goes free. Sf has always been soft on crime.
Baltimore can’t bring it self to increase penalties for gun crimes. They have a permissive attitude about street crime. Both of these cities, one run by white gay people and one run by black people, both are socialist progressive in their political orientation.
Both boast about their political power. And both are on their way to destruction.
LOL, undoubtedly to be used as a lever in a plea deal. Nothing new really going to happen. Criminals will keep getting guns easily and law abiding citizens will continue to have new regulations and fees dumped on them.
And what color of the ones trashing the police car? Says it all doesn’t it folks.
Sorry, but TTAG dropped the ball on this one. This measure was VIGOROUSLY opposed by the MD gun-owning community, who had no particular desire to go to jail for a year if someone accidentally carried where they shouldn’t. This was a victory for us, not a loss.
Mandatory minimum sentences would be wrong in this case. They would only ensnare the average Joe who mistakenly breaks one of the many unconstitutional Baltimore/Maryland laws. There are plenty of laws on the books with stiff sentences for violent criminal acts, whether committed using a firearm or not.
The problem in Baltimore (as in Chicago etc etc) is the low arrest and prosecution rate, along with the revolving door justice system whereby offenders plea bargain their way down to a lesser offence with a low sentence.
All they need is a new police protocol for engagements with violent suspects. Here, i wrote one for them:
void dangerousCriminal() {
if (attackedByCriminal){
shootCriminal–;
}
}
I thought they got rid of all their confederate statues. Why are they still having problems?
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