The North Loop Is Burning!, Part IV: Never Waste A Crisis

Last week, the Strib put out a breathtakingly obtuse editorial about the wave of crime sweeping the North Loop in Minneapolis – even as crime statewide continues a long-term downward trend.

The Strib’s editorial board blamed court for limiting the cops’ ability to arrest drunk and panhandlers – but, mirabile dictu, not a single word about getting the Mayor and City Council to take time off from virtue-signaling, political posturing, and  building exquisitely expensive monuments to their own wisdom.

But now, it’s time for the scapegoating:

There’s another, more intractable problem that Freeman, Segal, Arradondo and others wrestle with: guns. “We as a society have refused to provide law enforcement with the resources and laws needed to reduce the number of guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them,” Freeman said.

Bravo!

Getting guns out of the hands of those who should not have them!   That’s just brilliant!

So the MPD will start focusing on straw buyers, gangs and habitual offenders?

Don’t be silly, fellow peasant; it’s Minneapolis:

Options here are few, especially in light of the strength of the gun lobby.

Let’s make this absolutely clear:  the “Gun Lobby” is the only party to this discussion proposing anything that will actually affect crime; upcharging gun criminals,

Some attempts at municipal restrictions have been struck down. One notable exception is New York City, where carrying a gun requires a special city permit issued by the police commissioner.

And where crime 35 years ago was off the charts – with the same, exact laws they have today.  It was Giuliani and his “stop and frisk” and “broken windows” policies – none of which the government of Minneapolis would ever condone – that actually lowered crime in NYC.   And by the way – have you noticed how crime is trending since DiBlasio reversed Giuliani and Bloomberg’s policies?

Minnesota typically has had strong Second Amendment protections, but it may be time for Minneapolis to explore its own carve-out.

Because of all the carry permittees that are shooting people up in the North Loop?

Because all those north side gang bangers will get permits?

Because holding out bitterly against the rights of the law-abiding citizen has served Chicago so well?

The legislative delegations from Minneapolis and St. Paul, with assists from city leaders, should make their voices heard on resurrecting a gun safety bill that would require criminal background checks for gun sales made at gun shows, privately and online.  These are the same background checks gun shop owners are required to conduct, and a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll last year found strong support for such a measure — 82 percent.

Which only proves that 82 percent of the Strib’s remaining film of readers are idiots.   Criminals don’t take background checks.

No.  The responsibility for the carnage on the North Side and in the North Loop lies precisely in the laps of Mayor Hodges and the pack of virtue-signaling, PC fops that amuse themselves playing “government” at City Hall.  It is they that continue the policies that keep the North Side hopeless, keep the Minneapolis PD busy chasing PC trends, and keep the city as a whole ripe pickings for the criminal class.

Perhaps it’s Minneapolis’ idiot political class that should be taking background checks.

See you

6 thoughts on “The North Loop Is Burning!, Part IV: Never Waste A Crisis

  1. I have often wondered if politicians should be required to pass background checks AND psychological examinations before running for office.

  2. It was Giuliani and his “stop and frisk” and “broken windows” policies – none of which the government of Minneapolis would ever condone – that actually lowered crime in NYC.

    Perhaps there is a bit of “that was then, this is now” going on but the CODEFOR program was a local implementation of Bill Bratten’s Broken Windows COMPSTAT program.

    The core of the program was stop & frisk, even for things as minor as a “bicycle license check”. The idea was to suppress the carrying of illegal firearms, which given New York ordinances meant pretty much all firearms.

    NY firearm policy aside, stopping and frisking unsavory characters, does suppress the number of felons carrying weapons.

    Implemented poorly, it also results in law abiding citizens being repeatedly frisked and in the case of Philandro Castile, occasionally shot.

    In an ideal, and entirely possible world, we can separate the bad guys from the good guy by virtue of their criminal history.

    Here is a quiz: Which guy do you want to stop and frisk?

    A) 20 yr old with a long history of felons and incarceration.
    B) 40 yr old with a Permit to Carry [in other words a person who has been vetted and whose demographic cohort is more law abiding than only one other group: toddlers]

  3. I will bet a brand-new nickel that not one single gun used in a shooting in Minneapolis was bought at a gun show.

    I will bet a slightly used Susan B. Anthony dollar that not one single gun used in a shooting in Minneapolis was fired by a person who had a Permit to Purchase a Pistol.

    I will bet a dozen Kristy Kreme donuts that the Minneapolis Police Department knows I’m right but won’t admit the facts in public because the facts undermines The Narrative.

  4. New York City has a lot of factors, starting with the fact that they’ve got one officer per 220 or so people. In Chicago, it’s 1:260, and in LA and Detroit, it’s about 1:400. Broken windows matters as well, and I think stop & frisk is part of that. You assume that the squeegee guy might be doing other things not exactly endorsed by the law.

  5. “New York City has a lot of factors…”

    It’s pretty interesting to hear Giuliani explain this. Most people don’t think holistically and practically about this stuff.

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