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2004-06-21 03:10:20 UTC
http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2004/05/04/columnists/mark_kiesling/5e
c7d2f15bad1a0e86256e880081220f.txt
Chicago
BY MARK KIESLING Times Columnist
So now the people of Lake County are responsible for Chicago's
nation-leading homicide rate.
At least that's what the billboard on the westbound Indiana Toll Road
implies when it tells motorists to "Stop Bringing Guns To Chicago Or Go
Directly To Jail."
The billboard is just west of Tennessee Street in Gary, and is
sponsored by Project Safe Neighborhoods Chicago. The telephone number
on the billboard is the gun hotline of the Chicago Police Department.
Safe neighborhoods are an admirable goal. I want to be on record as
opposing Project Hazardous Neighborhoods.
But I want Gary Mayor Scott King to buy a billboard on the eastbound
Chicago Skyway, which links Chicago and Northwest Indiana, that says,
"Stop Sending Your Thugs To Indiana To Buy Guns So They Can Kill
People."
"If I end up owning the Skyway, I will," said King, who said Wednesday
the thought had occurred to him as well. "I'd like to put up a sign
that says stop sending your Gangster Disciples, or fill in the blank
with whatever gang, over here to buy guns."
But King said he has spoken with Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley about
the sign and has come away feeling it's not a slam on Indiana in
general or Gary specifically, but a two-point reminder of certain
realities.
One: Chicago bans the sale and possession of handguns by its citizens,
and forbids anyone who holds a gun permit from another state, including
Indiana, from bringing that legally owned gun into the city.
Two: Indiana is a leading-source state for handguns that eventually
turn up in the hands of gang members.
King is trying to deal with gun violence in his own back yard through
the courts and local, state and federal law enforcement efforts.
But the billboard just seems kind of silly. Imagine a carload of Insane
Gangster Folk People Lords Nation driving into Chicago with handguns
they just scored at a gun shop in Indiana.
Suddenly, the billboard looms on their right.
Struck by conscience and frightened by the thought of going to jail,
they open the trunk and dump the weapons off the side of the Toll Road.
Uh huh. And I'm Eliot Ness.
If there wasn't a market in Chicago for guns, the thugs who control
those streets wouldn't be coming here to buy them.
Indiana gun shops need to do all they can to avoid selling guns to
so-called "straw purchasers," people with clean records who buy (for a
fee) guns for felons who then smuggle them back across the border into
Chicago.
We've reached a logical point of conflict. Gun shops have been shut
down in Chicago, where the murder rate is the highest and gangs are the
most active.
So the gangs reach out into areas where crime is low, where people use
guns for hunting deer instead of each other.
Drying up the gun supply to thugs -- not collectors or hunters -- is a
step in the right direction.
But as Gary homicide Detective Sgt. Tom Branson told me years ago at a
murder scene where a wife had beaten her husband to death with a piece
of furniture, "When table legs are outlawed, only outlaws will have
table legs."
Mark Kiesling's column solely represents the opinion of the writer and
not necessarily that of The Times. Readers can reach Kiesling at
***@nwitimes.com or (219) 662-5330.
- Notes From the Ignorant -
c7d2f15bad1a0e86256e880081220f.txt
Chicago
BY MARK KIESLING Times Columnist
So now the people of Lake County are responsible for Chicago's
nation-leading homicide rate.
At least that's what the billboard on the westbound Indiana Toll Road
implies when it tells motorists to "Stop Bringing Guns To Chicago Or Go
Directly To Jail."
The billboard is just west of Tennessee Street in Gary, and is
sponsored by Project Safe Neighborhoods Chicago. The telephone number
on the billboard is the gun hotline of the Chicago Police Department.
Safe neighborhoods are an admirable goal. I want to be on record as
opposing Project Hazardous Neighborhoods.
But I want Gary Mayor Scott King to buy a billboard on the eastbound
Chicago Skyway, which links Chicago and Northwest Indiana, that says,
"Stop Sending Your Thugs To Indiana To Buy Guns So They Can Kill
People."
"If I end up owning the Skyway, I will," said King, who said Wednesday
the thought had occurred to him as well. "I'd like to put up a sign
that says stop sending your Gangster Disciples, or fill in the blank
with whatever gang, over here to buy guns."
But King said he has spoken with Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley about
the sign and has come away feeling it's not a slam on Indiana in
general or Gary specifically, but a two-point reminder of certain
realities.
One: Chicago bans the sale and possession of handguns by its citizens,
and forbids anyone who holds a gun permit from another state, including
Indiana, from bringing that legally owned gun into the city.
Two: Indiana is a leading-source state for handguns that eventually
turn up in the hands of gang members.
King is trying to deal with gun violence in his own back yard through
the courts and local, state and federal law enforcement efforts.
But the billboard just seems kind of silly. Imagine a carload of Insane
Gangster Folk People Lords Nation driving into Chicago with handguns
they just scored at a gun shop in Indiana.
Suddenly, the billboard looms on their right.
Struck by conscience and frightened by the thought of going to jail,
they open the trunk and dump the weapons off the side of the Toll Road.
Uh huh. And I'm Eliot Ness.
If there wasn't a market in Chicago for guns, the thugs who control
those streets wouldn't be coming here to buy them.
Indiana gun shops need to do all they can to avoid selling guns to
so-called "straw purchasers," people with clean records who buy (for a
fee) guns for felons who then smuggle them back across the border into
Chicago.
We've reached a logical point of conflict. Gun shops have been shut
down in Chicago, where the murder rate is the highest and gangs are the
most active.
So the gangs reach out into areas where crime is low, where people use
guns for hunting deer instead of each other.
Drying up the gun supply to thugs -- not collectors or hunters -- is a
step in the right direction.
But as Gary homicide Detective Sgt. Tom Branson told me years ago at a
murder scene where a wife had beaten her husband to death with a piece
of furniture, "When table legs are outlawed, only outlaws will have
table legs."
Mark Kiesling's column solely represents the opinion of the writer and
not necessarily that of The Times. Readers can reach Kiesling at
***@nwitimes.com or (219) 662-5330.
- Notes From the Ignorant -