Gang members are terrorist, why aren't they being sent to internment camps, let's get a national ballot going!

Question

I think gangs, and those who harbor them, family or not, are terrorist. We will never catch Bin Laden, but these gangsters are terrorizing American Citizens, on American soil.
Recently, a new "gang" tried to push me off "thier" corner when waiting for my child's bus to arrive.
I told him to pull up his pants, unless he was advertising old school about being ready for getting but f**ked like in the prison he'd end up in some day.
He tried intimidating me more, but I stood firm, so he called his bros. they waved thier gun at me. I saw what complex they came out of, and took care of them later.
Can we say busted for drug and weapon possession? I let them know when the cops were taking them away, yo bro it was me, ya wanna pull up your pants now? No? have fun!
We need a national drive to rid our communities of gangs. Does anyone know how to start ballots to get them voted on in elections?
Thanks,
Jondulea

Answer 1

Woo-Hoo! I like you. I totally agree with you that gangs are domestic terrorists. I don't see a lot of serious effort of law enforcement, or any other part of government to put them out of business. I'm sure some slimy ACLU lawyers would crawl out from under a rock and try to protect them if somebody did crack down, but we can't let the ACLU destroy our security in this country. I'll support any serious effort to destroy gangs, and that includes gangs of lawyers who are making this country less safe for its citizens.

Answer 2

This type of stuff will be hard to enforce. There are many definitions to what is considered or even perceived as a gang, and you will end up with a lot of innocent people going to court or jail even if they are not in the type of gang(s) that you think should really be put away. Also it can be very hard to know who is in a gang just because some are more out going in showing their gang colors and signs doesn't mean that every one in the gang does. In your very own police departments there are gang member and you probably don't even know it. If you think going after them by putting them into interment camps is going to help guess what like you just said we haven't caught Bin Laden in his own neighborhood and what makes you think you will catch every single gang member in their own neighborhood? Not much can really be done. Gangs are a part of life and have been for centuries in some shape or form. All you can really do is try to get the more violent ones off the street and educate others on how to settle their differences in a more peaceful way.

Answer 3

Gangs are like local terrorist groups. They prey on innocent people and terrorize the local communities. It's not gang members are having car-washes to raise money for charity or a trip to Hawaii. No, they're all involved in criminal activity. I wish some people would stop treating gang members with so much sympathy :( because this kids have no where else to go...Hey, there is always the military, and oh, how 'bout taking some of that drug money or money that was stolen in a robbery and go to college.

Answer 4

If there is evidence that gang members are commiting crimes (and admittedly many of them are), they can be arrested and punished for the crimes. As the Bush Administration is slowly learning, you can't just lock someone up indefinitely on the vague charge of being a terrorist -- especially if the suspect is an American Citizen.

It will take time but work with the police and your neighbors and help them get the evidence necessary to put these gang members in prison. There have been national public relations efforts to push this concept nationwide but ultimately it is a city by city, neighborhood by neighborhood process of people having the courage to insist that all abide by the law.

Answer 5

Well, if you terrorize people by making terroristic threats and put people in fear of grave bodily harm, then you're a terrorist. Especially if you're doing it for the sake of establishing your "turf", because then the violence becomes political (albeit, on a small street-level scale). However, gang members *are* American citizens and therefore do have rights like any other accused suspects so you can't just stick them in interment camps. It is a nice idea, though....

Answer 6

We have "internment camps," they're called "prisons."

And if you look, you'll find the US already has lots of prisions and jails, stuffed to bursting with your "domestic terrorists."

In fact the US already has one of the highest per capita rates of incarceration in the world, if not the highest.

What you are apparently asking for is a more "general roundup" type of policy, typical of a police state.

That would mean incarcerating absolutely huge numbers of people, at enormous cost, on relatively sparse, relatively uncertain evidence.

To continue your analogy with Bush's "War on Terror," it would mean locking people up, perhaps indefinitely, simply because some anonymous source accused them of something.

Bush's internment camps for example of full of people against whom the government has literally no evidence except such hearsay. It is quite possible the majority of the people in those camps are completely innocent, and are there simply because somebody wanted to collect a reward, or wanted them out of the way for personal reasons.

I understand you're fearful and upset. I suggest you think carefully about what you're asking for, however.

Because once you've set the wheels of a police state in motion, I don't think you're going to find it easy to slow down, in case you have second thoughts later.

Especially if you're trying to slow it down from inside some internment camp that you've been stuck in, thanks to the
testimony of some jerk you've had a disagreement with.

Lest you accuse me of having no solutions, I'll tell you I'd like to see marijuana and cocaine legalized. This would eliminate a lot of the profit available to street gangs currently.

Which would not be a complete solution. But then I don't think there is a complete solution. There have always been gangs. There has always been crime. It's not some special emergency we have to deal with in particular.

Answer 7

While I agree for the most part... "internment camps" won't work. Coming from an employee working for the biggest state corrections in the U.S...... it's very obvious that rounding up gang members and putting them in jail is not really helping. Gangs are still run from inside prison, our prisons are compeltely, ridiculously overcrowded, and it's costing taxpayers billions.

I highly doubt people would agree with my idea to just start giving the death penalty more freely.... sigh.

Answer 8

You have a point.
Gangs are an internal threat to security.
Read the assessments of law enforcement agencies re. gangs and international narcotics trade and how this can lead to financing for terrorists.

Answer 9

the army fights the terrorists in iraq and the police fight the gangs here. youre question is old. lets just face it. best way to get rid of a gang, is to make sure that people in our society dont have to rely on that option to get by in life. if our civilization is so evolved why cant we make everyone rich. cant. lets just realize that for things to be perfect you have to have. good guys and bad guys. cuz then what woiuld cops do? be trash men?

oh yeah. what would the army be good for without a reasone to have the army? for some people it means death. but to alot it means money for college. an extreme life experience.
and us who make it to old age will have a story from our generation to talk about. so lets have a little pride in our times.

Answer 10

Gang members are not terrorists - they are criminals.

Terrorists are also criminals. They should be called criminals more often. Calling them terrorists give them a mystique and legitimaticy in some circles.

They should be called what they are, weak murdering criminals. (Just like gang members)