Real-Life 'Purge?' – City Official Floats Plan To Stop Gangbangers That Will Turn Streets into War Zone
Crime in Chicago has gotten so bad that a city official is promoting a plan to just ask gang members to limit their criminal activity to nighttime hours.
A Chicago group called Native Sons has proposed the plan, which calls on residents to refrain from shooting at each other between the hours of 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., according to CWBChicago.
Tania Atkins of Native Sons said trying to stop crime completely is unrealistic, since it is hard for some people to part with the gang lifestyle.
“Not everyone is willing to drop their beef,” she said.
“If you aren’t mentally and emotionally equipped to solve disputes in a healthy manner, if you can’t help but harm each other — do so in a capacity in which children, elderly and those not involved in high-risk activities are less likely to be affected.”
While the plan is called “The People’s Ordinance” by the group, no formal legislation has been drafted to increase penalties for people who fire guns during the day, CWBChicago reported.
However, the proposal does have the support of one city official — Democratic Alderwoman Maria Hadden of Chicago’s 49th Ward, who plugged the plan in a recent email newsletter.
This is just a silly idea and no one should be supporting it, let alone an elected official. It is a concession to violent criminals, telling them that their crimes are more acceptable at some times than others.
Crime is never acceptable, no matter what time of day it takes place.
Not to mention that gang members are not just going to stop shooting people at certain times of the day because they were asked to or even if a new law is passed. They are going to break the law — that’s kind of their thing.
Some are comparing this proposal to the movie “The Purge,” in which all crime is permitted for one night a year to allow citizens to get it out of their system.
Granted, this is nowhere near as bad as that, as crime would still be illegal between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. But the comparison does give an idea of what this amounts to.
“Going to shoot people? Well, all right — just don’t do it during the day!”
Meanwhile in Chicago… it’s like The Purge, but different. https://t.co/lHLj34gNW6
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) August 19, 2023
If officials really want to stop gang violence, they need to be tough on crime all the time.
Just look at the zero-tolerance policy of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who by cracking down on gangs took his nation from being a crime-ridden mess to one of the safest in Central America.
Chicago’s leaders, by contrast, seem to have just given up.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
