Reader comments
Gang-loitering bill is revived

Shawn Webb | 5:19 p.m. Jan. 7, 2009

How does one "register" as a gang member? How does one's name get into the list of registered gang members? Is this registry of known gang members going to be like the TSA's pointless No-Fly list in which anyone's name came be added without reason or judicial oversight?

Gang members will congregate where they choose to congregate. If a police officer tells gang members to leave a certain area, the gang members will congregate just outside of the now restricted area.

This bill does not increase security. It limits the very thing for which our founding fathers put their lives at stake: freedom.

i am not a gang member | 8:23 p.m. Jan. 7, 2009

Shawn Webb ï¿½
Right On! I also have some concerns about ï¿½freedom of assemblyï¿½ and ï¿½freedom of associationï¿½. Although barely noticeable, we have definitely seen a slow depreciation of the US Constitution. I first noticed it with the passage of the antismoking laws and Iï¿½m not even a smoker-yuk!
ï¿½Who cares if a gang of bad guys canï¿½t hang out together.ï¿½ is what some of us might think.
BUT To limit assembly and association will also to some degree limit the exchange of ideas and information for the bad guys, and for us all. This type of prohibition may endanger the rights of demonstrators and therefore is a danger to freedom of speech.
The time may come when weï¿½ll wake up to find that we have lost the ability to gather publicly to speak out against injustice, inequity, and governmental corruption.
I wonder if society will ever care enough to try and prevent gang involvement.

uncannygunman | 7:37 a.m. Jan. 8, 2009

I agree with "I am not a gang member." I am presently watching the sad destruction of the social group that used to exist at the club I hang out at. The air's cleaner now, but the company is lacking, and I wasn't there for the air quality to begin with.

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Shawn Webb | 8:30 a.m. Jan. 8, 2009

I'm sorry. I made a typo. I wrote:

"Is this registry of known gang members going to be like the TSA's pointless No-Fly list in which anyone's name came be added without reason or judicial oversight?"

I meant to write:

"Is this registry of known gang members going to be like the TSA's pointless No-Fly list in which anyone's name can be added without reason or judicial oversight?"

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