Children's Prisons Under Siege

I was reading the story through the plastic window of the vending machine. It was the Los Angeles Daily News, a leftist-run newspaper that I don't purchase because of its bias.

Later, I found the story (containing a lot of leftist spin) on the net.

The story tells us that students at several San Fernando Valley High Schools are experiencing an increasing number of violent attacks in recent times. I might wonder how this could possibly be, in light of the fact that LA children's prisons are legally "safe school zones," in which there are high penalties for possession of a weapon or committing various other crimes within the area.

David Brewer, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, neatly sidesteps the issue by claiming it's "the community's fault." He pledges to work closely with Antonio Vinaigrette, el alcalde del Pueblo de Los Angeles to reduce gang activity.

El alcalde, a member of MEChA, a latino power organization, is failing miserably in the battle against criminal gangs, partly because he refuses to acknowledge the racial aspect of gang dynamics, and partly because he refuses to recognize the means of their funding: illegal vice. He further casts a blind eye 'pon anything that might actually lessen their power. His idea of fighting gangs is with negotiation, and attempts to learn more about their grievances so he can find a way to satisfy them. "I feel your pain," or the like.

I have news for you, Senor Alcalde: They want money and they want power over others. Just like you do. Just like the city council does. Just like the federal government's elected officials do.
They, and you, want the unearned. You want respect and adulation even if you have to get it by force of arms.

I know this is the farthest thing from your mind (such as it is), but if you really wanted to do away with gangs, here are three things that will go a long way toward a solution:

• Repeal all of the municipal gun laws. All of them. This is the most important, and would be the most effective of this entire list. One of the biggest reasons for the success of gangs in El Pueblo is the fact that most of their victims have no way of effectively defending themselves.
• Repeal all municipal drug laws. The enforcement of drug laws is far more harmful to the populace than are the drugs themselves. If the drugs to which we refer as "recreational" were readily available at drug stores (or even head shops) at market prices, gangs will have lost their primary source of revenue, not to mention power.
• Withhold tax payments to the state and federal governments. They are doing nothing to help the problem. Their actions seriously aggravate these and many other local difficulties, and they deserve no payment for their lack of effective effort.
• Permanently suspend any and all mandatory taxes, and solicit donations from the public to fund police and court activities. The poor can't afford to pay your confiscatory taxes; the better off could afford to invest in businesses that could offer honest work to ex-gangsters and the honest unemployed alike. Offer all municipal services on a fee-for-service basis at market prices.
  
• El Pueblo should divest itself of all services that can be offered on the free market. Fire fighting and prevention, education, health services, utilities, public transportation, routine police patrolling, construction inspection and even streets and highways can be privately owned and operated. It'd be done far more efficiently and at less expense outside of municipal control.

The only reason that these solutions won't be considered is that, in the deepest analysis, Senor Vinaigrette, the City Council, the Chief of Police and the heads of the various municipal departments are a gang in their own right, and will only mount a serious battle against street gangs if they actually challenge the power of city government itself.

....And that could happen, amigos mios. It could happen soon.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Addendum:
As I write this, according to a story in the Long Beach Press Telegram, four of nine gang thugs who beat up three young women of another race in nearby Long Beach this past Halloween because they are of another race, were sentenced to probation and house arrest for their actions. These women are not yet recovered from their injuries. This is a perfect example of municipal governments' inability (of lack of desire) to deal with gang activity.