Gangs are a different problem. Our society has, for some reason I'm not aware of, evolved to allow gang activity. We detest their criminal behavior, but we forbid citizens from doing anything about them. Instead, we hand that responsibility to the police, who do a piss poor job.
It's not the police's fault in that respect, its our own fault. In a society of real justice, those city thugs who run into stores en mass and steel whatever they want would be systematically shot down by the store owner. If you get 40 idiots who decided to raid a department store to overwhelm any attempt to stop them, then a store owner should have the right to shoot them dead.. (if you ask me)..
And if a neighborhood community identifies a drug house, they should be allowed to burn it down.
Instead, our society has evolved a philosophy that life is more important than property.. problem is, when that property supports your life, such things are not considered in our courts.
I don't think I would want to shoot someone steeling a 5 gallon can of gas out of my shed.. what's the current price like $20 for the gas plus $30 for the can? But what about someone who can barely feed their own children or pay their utility bill to keep the lights and heat on? That $50 means a whole lot more to them than it does to me, it could mean the difference between paying the bills for the month and having their power turned off.
We're making mistakes and no one seems to want to correct them. The lefties seem to want to allow minor crimes, the extremist on the right want an authoritarian state...
