And Why Do We Have Gangs?

I’m amazed by this story:

Gang-related deaths typically aren’t the product of fights over drugs — as many assume — but rather result from grudges between rival gangs that erupt into violence, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Gang homicides nearly always involve guns, usually occur in public places and the victims tend to be under the age of 19, the agency reported on Thursday in a study that examined 2003-2008 data from Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland, California; Oklahoma City; and Newark, New Jersey.

“These incidents most often result when contentious gang members pass each other in public places and a conflict quickly escalates into homicide with the use of firearms and drive-by shootings,” the CDC said.

They don’t link to the actual study, so I can look over the methods, also I’m not familiar with the reporting methods of said crimes to see if there’s any resolution issue with the raw data. Still let’s take it at face value, and say this is indeed true. Certainly I frequently read about gang murders that seem to conform to this.

But why are gangs rivals? Why do they have “turf wars”? Why are there Gangs at all? What do they do?

If this story is to be believed and most of the deaths are a results of the more tribal side of gangs, than the enforcement side, still the fuel behind gangs, and the attraction of young men to enter these groups is the drugs, and the money the drugs generate.

Back in the 20s there were gangs doing the same thing, and they were doing it over booze and gambling. We legalized both and they stopped.

Take the hint.

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0 Responses to And Why Do We Have Gangs?

  1. Greg Camp says:

    Because actually solving a problem would mean that we no longer need to pay someone to solve it. Look at the history of drug control. You’ll see that it was all about maintaining power for a government agency, not about protecting the public.

  2. I guess the CDC has found a way to bypass the “no money for anti-gun junk science” restrictions. Now all they have to do is ignore the elephant in the room and pretend that gangs are simply distributed non-governmental self-help groups rather than drug sales cartels.

    Think of all the opportunities that this opens up. First, the anti-gunners can use this to try to attack lawful gun ownership. Second, the government entities involved can use this as another way to inject themselves into a purely private organization. Listen to the rhetoric. It’s not that they object to the gangs per-se, it’s that they object to the fact that the gangs have so little assistance and control from government.

    I think that the eventual intent of the high forehead types who dream this crap up is that they will start giving money to the gangs in the various anti-violence efforts, and once the gangs get dependent upon the money, the government will sue them in Federal court alleging discrimination and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They will bankrupt the gangs and then push for a bailout, handing control of the gangs to the unions.

    Nothing else the government does with respect to drugs and violence makes any sense. I think that they are convinced that since that approach works with GM, it will work with crime.

    When all you have is a hammer, ever problem looks like a nail.

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