Comments on: Stray Bullet Hits Six-Year-Old in the Head in Oakland

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:00:00 +0000

“we sent the loser away for good”.
“Lower standards for the death penalty”.
“Solitary confinement”.
Increasing sentences….
Oh dear – I hope you enjoy you ever worsening social relations and your increased need to feel like you have to carry a gun.

By: Marc Novakowski

Marc Novakowski — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:48:00 +0000

Wow, sounds like pretty soon you're going to need one of these to feel safe sleeping at night. That's pretty sad.

By: Robert Aitchison

Robert Aitchison — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:18:00 +0000

Sounds like what is needed is not a "War on guns" but a "War on _illegal_ guns" or better yet, a "War on criminals".

As you pointed out, criminals already flout the existing laws that are supposed to keep guns out of their hands More laws won't change anything for them but would affect the lives & health of law abiding citizens who have to rely on themselves for protection when the police can't or won't help.

Possession of a firearm by a convicted criminal is a felony, I know I once sat on a jury where an ex-con was caught with a gun (it was his third strike (more like 10th but the 3 strikes law was new at the time) and we sent the loser away for good.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 03:41:00 +0000

Although I can’t relate to that kind of situation, I can surely sympathize. I have my own 6 year old, and I can’t even imagine anything like that happening to her. I think your last sentence says it all.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:53:00 +0000

How about a big, grassroots, public awareness campaign that is comprised of photos of the effects that this gun violence is having on Oakland? Hundreds of photo bloggers; photos of the victims, broken security gates on public housing communities, childless neighborhood streets, families hiding in their homes, bullet-holed cars; all these photos emailed to government officials, newspapers, and community groups. Let’s not overlook the power of the photo, as evidenced by the recent Pulitzer winning “photograph of a Japanese videographer, sprawled on the pavement, fatally wounded during a street demonstration in Myanmar.” We got plenty of that in America’s urban streets–let’s capture those images and do something them, the very least we can do for the victims.

By: simonking

simonking — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:14:00 +0000

Perhaps one of the problems is the overcrowding of the jails. Criminals who commit serious crimes and are given long sentences are released early to make space for other incoming inmates.

The government should increase inmate work groups. They should build prisons in the mid-west, ship the prisoners to farms, and make them work with no to little pay.

Why should the law abiding American people pay for the mistakes of these criminals? The problem is that if work conditions get really bad the ACLU steps in and starts suing the government. However, a smart economist might find a way to motivate these inmates to work for reduced wages. A delicate balance must be met then by offering enough incentives to motivate the inmates to work and the cost of the prison cell for the American people. I concur longer sentences would be beneficial, especially for violent crimes.

Also, non-monetary incentives could be used to motivate the inmates to join these work groups (i.e. solitary confinement, loss of priveldges, OR...perhaps increasing the sentence of people who refuse to work might be another motivator).

Lower standards for the death penalty might be another method to deal with this problem....Just a few thoughts.

Simon King

Http://simonking3.blogspot.com