Preckwinkle: We Need to Rethink Our 'War on Guns'

[mauserme]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/ct-preckwinkle-cook-county-rethink-our-war-on-guns-20160914-story.html

 

 

Letter: Preckwinkle: We need to rethink our 'war on guns'

September 14, 2016, 3:48 PM

 

Cook County needs a fair and effective justice system that holds everyone accountable, especially those who commit violent acts against others.

 

Criminal justice reform efforts are gaining new urgency as the death toll from gun violence rises in Chicago. We need to tackle gun violence directly and effectively and at its root causes: trauma, poverty and isolation.

 

However, as Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli pointed out in her Sept. 7 op-ed, the last thing we need is to pile a failed war on guns on top of the failed war on drugs.

 

Proponents of such a war repeatedly tell us that many gun offenders are released by irresponsible judges with a slap on the wrist. And, they assert, if a new law is passed to hold judges accountable, gun offenders would be properly punished and deterred from violence by high bonds, jail detention and time in prison.

 

The problem with this narrative is that we already impose high bonds, jail detention and time in prison on people charged with any crime that allegedly involved a gun. This includes guns used by people other than the defendant under the principles of accountability.

...

 

[luckydawg13]

so why a war on Gun's and not gangbangers I just dont understand there thinking

[Lou]

When will we have a war on criminals rather than inanimate objects?

 

Liberal politicians like Preckwinkle are part of the problem by failing to admit the root cause of the problem.

When someone like John Kass tells the truth, she attacks him.

 

SMH

[BobPistol]

Can we have a war against corrupt politicians? Oh, she won't go for that for obvious reasons.

[VannDaddy]

I thing governments need to stop the war on families, the war on morals, the war on income, the war on savings, etc.

[tchostler]

seems that every time they start a war on something, it costs us a lot of money and things get worse.

[GTX63]

so why a war on Gun's

 

Just replace the word "guns" with "drugs" or most any other term and you see the systemic problem.

[gregivq]

"justice system that holds everyone accountable"

 

So is Preckwinkle not in Hillary's camp?

[Bo69]

so why a war on Gun's and not gangbangers I just dont understand there thinking

Because those gangbangers are the foot soldiers salesmen for the CIA drugs.

[Jeffrey]

so why a war on Gun's and not gangbangers I just dont understand there thinking

Because you don't **** where you eat.

[357]

Guns are to blame for shootings same as knifes are to blame for stabbings.

[DonP]

Does anyone actually think "Ms. Sensible Shoes" would ever go after the criminals? Between the criminals, their families and their local "Revruns" they are a major voting bloc for her and the Cook County Dems.

 

Note she always talks about the "Harsh Sentencing Guidelines" for gun crimes and never talks about how many cases are plea bargained away and what the actual sentencing average is.

 

Also note that no word on how she's using all that money from her $25 per gun surcharge tax and the ammo tax.

 

She's just pushing for state and local control of FFLs so she and Madigan can create another boondoggle department to throw a few hundred do nothing patronage jobs to the rabble.

[GWBH]

Re-think??

Did any of those folks "think" is the first place and are any of them actually capable of "thinking"?

[AlphaKoncepts aka CGS]

so why a war on Gun's and not gangbangers I just dont understand there thinking

Gang bangers have families who vote.

[McCroskey]

 

We need to tackle gun violence directly and effectively and at its root causes: trauma, poverty and isolation.

 

I agree with her. So when can we expect her to scrap the failed Cook AWB, ammo taxes, and carry bans on public transit?

[Xwing]

How about the go after the violent criminals instead of responsible gun owners? But they never would bother...

[vezpa]

 

so why a war on Gun's and not gangbangers I just dont understand there thinking

Gang bangers have families who vote.

 

 

Gangbangers themselves vote...................

.

[Glock23]

 

 

so why a war on Gun's and not gangbangers I just dont understand there thinking

Gang bangers have families who vote.

 

 

Gangbangers themselves vote...................

.

 

 

This. I think a lot of people have the misconception that all gang bangers are convicted felons who have no rights, when in reality it is just as likely that many have never been convicted of a felony, still have the right to vote, and those with fairly clean records can actually still legally own (and carry, if licensed) firearms.

[C0untZer0]

The NRA's stance has historically been to toughen sentencing sentencing for gun crimes.

 

I understand that both drugs and guns are "things" not a behavior or action, but comparing guns to drugs is a bad comparison. Not all malum prohibitum offenses concerning a gun are unjust and should be eliminated. The Illinois AUUW charge of a felon in possession of a firearm would be the offense that I would sight as not only being a necessary statute but needing stricter minimum sentences.

 

A better comparision would be to compare guns with burglary tools. There is a charge called possession of burglary tools. Without this charge, police would need to catch burglars in the act of burglarizing a home in order to be able to charge them with anything substantial.

 

If police apprehend a person on my property at 2:00 a.m. wearing a ski mask and carrying a bag with a screw driver, lock pick, chisel, hammer and pry bar, there is the charge of possession of burglary tools. If this person hasn't actually pried open a window, the police would only have trespassing to charge the person with if the possession of burglary tools law didn't exist.

That is why lawmakers created the possession of burglary tools charge, so home invaders don't walk away with a slap on the wrist if police are unable to catch them red-handed in the act of burglarizing a home.

The AUUW for Felon in Possession of a handgun is treated like a joke in Chicago with felons rotating in and out of prison until they finally kill somebody.

[C0untZer0]

Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance

[mauserme]

The NRA's stance has historically been to toughen sentencing sentencing for gun crimes.

 

...

As happens with friends from time to time, we've found ourselves historically in disagreement on the bills that have been offered, especially those that suggest we cede judicial authority to prosecutorial discretion or that risk ensnaring non-violent gun owners in mandatory minimum sentencing schemes.

 

As Ms. Preckwinkle notes later in the article, no one seems to know exactly what will be in the pending bill. It's hard to take a position on language being written in secret, but it should be obvious at this point that any support or opposition will be based on the facts that eventually come out.

[Sigma]

yes but she signs a $25 per gun tax and an ammo tax. I call that a war on guns that she claims she is rethinking but will never repeal

[C0untZer0]

IMO Preckwinkle is alluding to the community justice / restorative justice / transformation justice bull****. Instead of facing the fact that there is something wrong with the culture that produces such an insanely high number of criminals, people like Preckwinckle say the "community" is "over-incarcerated".

 

The new fad for dealing with "over-incarceration" is community justice / restorative justice / transformation justice. Its completely unworkable and unconstitutional, but in essence it is a double standard, a way for individuals from over-incarcerated communities to not be dealt with by the justice system.

[RECarry]

What the gun grabbers really dream of is a war on The Wrong House. More SWAT raids = more legally owned guns confiscated to show off to the media. For progressives, the ends justify the means.

[mauserme]

yes but she signs a $25 per gun tax and an ammo tax. I call that a war on guns that she claims she is rethinking but will never repeal

Isn't it telling, then, that she recognizes mandatory minimums and sentencing enhancements as a war on guns. I mean, her positions haven't been historically pro-gun in the sense I understand the term, yet she sees the truth on this issue.

 

Still, when she asks us to reconsider that war, some would argue against her - argue to continue the war on guns that IllinoisCarry has worked so hard to fend off against various groups over the past 6 years or more.

[C0untZer0]

I don't know if you consider supporting stricter mandatory minimum sentences on FELONS found to be in possession of guns - to be arguing to continue the war on guns, but I don't. Also, despite her words, I don't think she's really reconsidering the war that she and her fellow democrats have waged against guns and law-abiding gun owners for the last 40 or so years.

[mauserme]

I don't know if you consider supporting stricter mandatory minimum sentences on FELONS found to be in possession of guns - to be arguing to continue the war on guns, but I don't. Also, despite her words, I don't think she's really reconsidering the war that she and her fellow democrats have waged against guns and law-abiding gun owners for the last 40 or so years.

I guess we'll have to wait for the secret bill to know its details.

[Sigma]

Btw how is that gun court she created working out

[mauserme]

As far as I know it never happened. Chief Judge Timothy Evans said there was no basis for doing it.

[BobPistol]

Gang bangers have families who vote leftocrat.

 

 

 

 

FIFY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gangbangers themselves vote leftocrat...................

.

 

 

FIFY