Comments about ‘Gang bills sail through House committee’

The house has made a very good decision. Law enforcement needs all of the tools it can get to fight against gangs. Hopefully the full legislature will pass this bill.

I disagree very much with this bill. It provides what Bruce Schneier calls security theaterpractices which seem to provide enhanced security, but in reality do not.

Bill SB16 allows for local law enforcement to maintain a database of known gang members. How does one register as a gang member? How does ones name get into the list of registered gang members? Is this registry of known gang members going to be like the TSAs pointless No-Fly list in which anyones name can 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.

This bill protects the public by prohibiting persons who have previously been CONVICTED of crimes with a group enhancement from possessing firearms. The bill does not apply to everyone on some generic list, only those who have prior convictions. We need these persons to be incarcerated for as long as possible.

One does not "register" as a gang member. The bill prohibits persons with prior convictions from possessing firearms. Who in their right mind supports possession of firearms by persons previously convicted of gang crimes?

i agree with david. law enforcement needs all the tools it can get to combat the gang problem.

The answer to high crime rates is not to arm every man, woman, and child in the State. Guns must be kept out of the hands of gang members.

five years? Why not 10 years or even more?

So, if 2 people are in a car speeding down the highway, are they a gang?