Vietnam, Woodstock, Iraq Protests, and now Decarcerate PA

The peace movement has grown old and gray, except for an on-again off-again Libertarian touch.

Several hundred people gathered in Love Party May 21, enthusiastically waited for the too many speakers to finish, and then began marching to the art museum, the first leg of the march toward a Noon June 3 rally in Harrisburg. They forgot a bus to follow along to pick up us old folk who have trouble keeping up. The march seems to really think people are going to march all the way instead of people taking turns marching while others are in a car. The only rides being offered are to those who want to come to the June 3 Harrisburg rally.


To Decarcerate, as the opposite of to Incarcerate, as in Decarcerate PA, and Decarcerate Illinois, is not the term used in most of the country for decreasing the number of people in prison, instead of closing many schools and public programs. A 1985 article I find very persuasive but again the article was only from Illinois,
http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/instead_of_prisons/chapter5.shtml

Some people think you should have a right not to wear a seat belt, motorcycle helmet or have a gun, I am not impressed. However prohibition empowered organized crime. Cell phones while driving is a real disaster. Walking while on the phone has caused some to fall as of late. But I don't think banning all cell phones is the answer, banning some people from using them is worse. No smoking areas work because the cops and boss can't smoke there as well. Think of the tension in an office if only the salaried employees were forbidden to smoke. If the US really wanted to get guns or certain guns off the street, besides seizing them, top dollar would be offered for illegal guns turned in, like Australia did with automatics.

In the spirit of making good people change their practices, seat belt laws were passed and with nagging pressure they are more and more often worn. In the spirit of stopping good people from getting cancer gruesome stop smoking commercials were made. In Wisconsin a lot of rich families were plagued with speed or methamphetamine, so grotesque anti-speed ads were made and has spread to elsewhere The AAA with the attitude of getting good people to stop getting liver disease can get results. Illegal immigrants and illegal gun owners probably wear seat belts as much as the rest of us. Stop trying to argue about who are the bad guys is the first step to to actually solving our problems.

When people are in jail the reported crime rate go down because robbing, muggings are rapes are off the books when they occur in prison.


Anyway the longer I continue the more I am talking for myself not the Decarcerate PA movement. The letters sent to the Philadelphia Inquirer just complain about Philadelphia Mayor Nutter's Three Strikes and You are Out Gun Control efforts,

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq_ed_board/Inquirer-Letters-Extra-Mean-streets-even-with-full-jails.html

http://decarceratepa.info/press/inquirer-letter-editor-re-proposed-mandatory-minimum-gun-possesion-philadelphia

http://decarceratepa.info/press/decarcerate-pa-op-ed-sb100-published-daily-news


Philadelphia is now in a feud with the state whether it can outlaw guns in the city parks. The state threatening hefty fines if it does. A perfect chance to consider an unlocked gun in the park being similar to an unlocked seat belt in a car. If someone has an unlocked gun in the park they pay a $10 fine or $100 if the fine is not payed in a week or a lengthy report promptly sent on each incident and their justifications. If a hoodlum thinks a witness might talk it would be easier to report it themselves and pay the fine than terrorize the witness to discourage them from talking.

To change the subject nothing else to lose is an important factor we somehow have to deal with. Tamerlan Tsarnaev who bombed the Boston Marathon is suspected of having killed 3 people in 2011, Adam Lanza was dangerous thin while playing Call of Duty day and night, he could of even been mad at his mother from distracting him with food. Whatever the reason he had nothing else to lose by continuing his rampage. On non-murders one week in jail vs a couple of years is more of a deterrent, than 20 years vs life without parole.

Success with no smoking areas were even the boss can't smoke intrigues me to try to use it to succeed elsewhere.


If the cops had fingerprint locking gun hostlers there would be far fewer incidents where it was claimed the suspect tried to grab the officer's gun, and the police would be more relaxed instead of looking over their shoulders worrying about who might try to steal the gunn. Any gun not carefully secured is an invalidation for a thief to try to steal. Just think if the laws on keeping guns locked up were were written right even a mugger would keep his gun in a locked duffel bag while robbing old ladies, rather than face far greater punishment hoping to get his gun quickly out of the duffel bag if the mugger faced an armed threat. Meanwhile no more elderly victims shot just because a car back fired near by.

Libertarians are still coming to the anti-drone rallies. But sadly when I went to the East Coast gun rally that morning by the Liberty Bell, the only one who welcomed me was a man who thinks the Second Amendment even gives citizens the right to own an atomic bomb if they wanted one.

More detail at,
http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/419-gun-control-/17355-time-to-rethink-guns-pot-and-gay-marriage-in-light-of-the-success-with-seat-belts-and-cut-backs-in-tobacco-use
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The word “Reasonable” has been hijacked by extremists as in “Reasonable gun laws”

There are a lot of efforts to legislate social change, seat belt laws the most successful through small fines that don’t increase whether or not one is a first time offender or not.

In other areas gruesome ads rather than harsh punishment like someone losing or not getting a job because they smoke cigarettes or jailing adults who bought tobacco for a child has been the most effective in lowering lung cancer. In Wisconsin gruesome ads against speed or methamphetamine has been quite effective.

The first attempt as a reasonable gun law might be a $10 fine for carrying a gun in the city park, and $100 if the fine isn't payed by 10 days after the incident occurred. When it comes to rough characters who fear a witness snitching they would most likely surprise the authorities with an unrequested fine payment rather then invest a lot more than $10 worth of effort in trying to make sure the witness remained silent. Neighbors who complain about guns could still expect some retaliation, but far less danger of being terrorized. Philadelphia may face a law suite over banning public guns, a ten dollar law would be easier to win and less of a fine if the city lost in a lawsuit. There is a lot more but I might rune it by saying too much. No smoking areas are unique in that both the boss and the cops can't smoke there either. Perhaps all guns should be required to be kept locked up, if police officers had their guns in finger-locking holsters, there would be far less people dreaming of seizing an officer's gun and far less police shootings reported as the suspect tried to grab the officer's gun.

Prison overcrowding has finely started to come down, with less three strikes convictions, and less long term incarceration over marijuana, and less excitement against terrorism, since the nasty porn flick insulting Islam, Innocence of the Muslims alerted many into realizing that baiting trouble in the name of warning against it is going on.

Don't let gun laws refuel the prison-industrial-complex toward continuing to head this country in the direction of eventually most of people in America being in the prison probation system.

Instead of arguing whether guns are good or good in certain instances let's unite against throw away the key attempted solutions to our human problems.

This Saturday May 25 there will be two very large events in Philadelphia

There will be a rally for gun rights 11 am at the Liberty Bell and not far away at noon in Love Park a rally for Decarceration instead of endlessly new incarcerations marching to the Art Museum and the hearty on to Harrisburg, seeing these events as contradictory will make what promises to be a huge by recent standards human rights rally seem small. But seeing the two rallies as complimentary events will make the recent return to activism seem huge, and prevent many new unwilling recruits to the prison-industrial-complex pipeline end up not happening,

http://decarceratepa.info/press/inquirer-letter-editor-re-proposed-mandatory-minimum-gun-possesion-philadelphia

http://www.tcrcphilly.org/Events.html

http://pennrecord.com/news/9684-phila-may-face-suit-over-newly-enacted-gun-ban-attorneys-may-seek-injunctive-relief

http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/419-gun-control-/17355-time-to-rethink-guns-pot-and-gay-marriage-in-light-of-the-success-with-seat-belts-and-cut-backs-in-tobacco-use

by Richard Kane, retired in Philly PA
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