- Nov 11, 2009
- 30,987
Jack: This hypothesis assumes that the Baltimore City Democrats actually believe that gun legislation will actually help reduce violent crime. If that belief is genuine, then it amounts to willful ignorance. Since these are otherwise intelligent individuals, the alternative explanation appears to be more likely, viz., that the focus on guns allows them to actually avoid, politically, the expensive remedies that everyone knows will be actually effective, including longer incarceration times and no parole or suspended sentences for those individuals convicted of using a firearm illegally. Most violent crime in Baltimore, like elsewhere, is committed by recidivists. With respect to Gov. O'Malley, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that he pushed for SB 281 (he wrote it after all), for the basest of political reasons: He wanted to appeal to the Left Wing of the party nationally in prep for his run to be President. No amount of facts will change such a strategy.
The only problem with healthy cynicism is that it remains negative; it does not suggest a viable alternative, going forward.
I'm certainly not saying it's misplaced, or inaccurate.