Naturally, the first thing to do in order to shift blame is to place the onus for your problems on things you have no control over, such as the laws of a neighboring state:
"Without uniform gun policies — say, in neighboring Indiana and Wisconsin — weapons still flow, Emanuel said.Does California not border Arizona, whose 'gun policies' are more lax than Indiana or Wisconsin? Does New York not border Vermont, whose ditto? Sorry, Rahm, but your two exemplar states border the two states with the most liberal firearms laws in the nation. The entire firearms-related section of Vermont's criminal code doesn't even take up an entire 8.5x11 page of small type, at least last time I checked.
"We take more guns off the streets than New York or L.A.," he said.
Further, even if Vermont and Arizona weren't there to refute his assertion, his claim falls down on the fact that the guns somehow have to make it to his fiefdom before they become dangerous. If guns were dangerous in and of themselves, then Milwaukee and Indianapolis would be knee-deep in blood, with ripples reaching out to maybe overlap slightly in Chicago. Instead, despite both neighboring states being awash in firearms, they are somehow inert until they get smuggled across the Cook County line, where that Lake Michigan air combines with the aroma of Wrigley Field hot dogs to send them into a rabid killing frenzy...
Aghast at the scurrilous slander being heaped on us by Rahm, we Hoosiers saddled up a Director at Large of the ISRPA and sent him charging into the op-ed pages of the Chicago business paper to rebut their mayor's heinous accusations.
The city fathers built Wrigley Field on an ancient burial ground and were cursed. Guns will demonically kill the people of Chicago until the Cubs win the World Series.
ReplyDeleteThey are doomed!
Gerry
It's not the Wrigley Field hotdogs - there's nothing wrong with them (as you well know).
ReplyDeleteIt's all the flux discharging from the fifth floor of 121 N. LaSalle St.
gvi
I've always found that argument (if it can even be called such) to be so silly that it makes me wonder if the people who express it have ever bothered to think it through to any sort of logical end.
ReplyDeleteIf loose gun laws in IN and WI are the problem with Chicago's crime levels, then as you point out, why aren't those neighboring awash in crime, more so than the Windy City. And yet, they continue to argue this is the case. A certain mikeb (and JG) posited an answer one time on his/their website, but I don't remember it. It was laughably stupid, though.
Using logic to argue with Emmanuel and his ilk is futile. The piece was a well-written, factual waste-of-time.
ReplyDelete"Using logic to argue with Emmanuel and his ilk is futile. The piece was a well-written, factual waste-of-time."
ReplyDeleteNot arguing with Rahm, sir.
I am talking to those than read Crain's at the University Club after work, on the Metra (train) home to the 'burbs, or those reading it on the stairmaster in the firm's gym.
Think of it as an inverted Fabian Society piece.
Shootin' Buddy
It's the same argument all the time with the statist lefty crowd. The Soviets liked to blame the existence of capitalist states for the reason their communism wasn't fully effective.
ReplyDeleteTheir plans never work unless you give them total control of everybody everywhere. And once you do, you'll learn that there's no safety relief valve to go back once the populace realizes they've been lied to all along.
Rahm is just using the same playbook... he's not so much after reduced violence in Chicago as he is trying to foist his stupid gun laws off on everyone else. It's the same thing he and Obama did re: Mexican violence vis a vis US gun laws. "They have a problem, so YOU need to give up YOUR rights."
On a slight tangent, it occurs to me that the only state bordering California that has stricter gun laws is the one to the south, which is also not known for it's placid tranquility.
ReplyDeleteIt is much easier and much safer for Rahm to rail against those in neighboring states; they rarely perform drive by shootings in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteIt is much safer than taking action against his own local criminal element, who are Known to respond violently to any efforts to impede their activities.
Rahm is not just a totalitarian, he is also a coward. Mexican presidential candidates, governors, mayors, and police regularly see the results of following Rahm's strategy of ignoring the root causes of criminal violence. They get killed, kidnapped, threatened and corrupted into ignoring the criminals.
Why would Rahm want that logical outcome for areas under his local government control? Eventually, when the entire civilian population of the US cannot own firearms, the criminals with guns will still be active on the south side of Chicago. And if Rahm bothers them then, they will kill him, just like they would do now.
You're missing something important, mikee - the criminal element is part of Rahm's constituency.
ReplyDeleteThe Mexican officials you note made the mistake of going against their criminals instead of co-opting them.
...that Lake Michigan air combines with the aroma of Wrigley Field hot dogs...
ReplyDeleteOr Great Lakes air in general. I wonder if Wrigley Field and Comerica Park share a hot dog supplier. I bet there'd be millions of dollars in CDC grant money for a study of the correlation.
I'd call the Constitution pretty uniform. What's not uniform is the corruption of government officials. Maybe Rahm-bo needs to go into time out.
ReplyDeleteM
I bet there'd be millions of dollars in CDC grant money for a study
ReplyDeleteNot if Rahm gets there first.
Ya gotta pay da outfit.