Gangsters are a bigger threat than international terrorists

Good Day World

Make no mistake, more Americans are killed by gangsters than from international terrorists.

According to FBI statistics there’s 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs with about 1.4 million members are criminally active in the U.S. today.

Many are sophisticated and well organized; all use violence to control neighborhoods and boost their illegal money-making activities, which include robbery, drug and gun trafficking, fraud, extortion, and prostitution rings.

The number of gangs in the U.S. is on the rise across the country, as is gang-related violence, with no sign that it will let up anytime soon, according to a leading expert.

The gangsters continue to get younger. A fatal shooting allegedly carried out by a baby-faced 12-year-old named Jarrell Milton is the most recent example of gang violence in Nebraska.

Experts all agree that the problem remains a generational one: Gang members raising their children into the lifestyle.

In addition, gangs are using the allure of hip hop stardom to draw recruits. Slickly produced music videos uploaded online show members counting money, cooking drugs and flashing firearms.

To get a current overview of gang activity throughout the country go to the National Gang Center website.

ON THE NATIONAL SCENE

Gang Violence Is on the Rise, Even as Overall Violence Declines

No city is safe from gangs.

While Washington DC deals with multiple neighborhood-based street crews that could span just three blocks, surrounding suburbs are homes to chapters of national gangs, such as Bloods and MS-13.

In the Virginia suburbs, “every town, every city, every county is at risk,” said Robert Vilchez, Arlington County Regional Gang Task Force coordinator. “Nobody is immune from this gang problem.”

The only way to really address our national gang problem is to break the generational gang ties. That’s going to take education and dedication from the communities riddled with gangs.

This idea is nothing new. There’s individual programs in communities that attempt to steer children away from a life of crime, but they are often limited by scant funds and participation from families.

The gang culture has to change. As long as gangsters are idolized by youngsters, they will continue to recruit them through the media, online videos, and from within gang families.

Perhaps that’s why I look at these gangs as domestic terrorists, and more of a threat to our society than international terrorists. 

Time for me to walk on down the road…