The Center Isn’t Holding

March 30, 2013 Black flash mobs* riot in downtown Chicago. Reportedly 500 young thugs invaded posh Michigan Avenue lobbing missiles at cars and randomly attacking pedestrians. They took over sidewalks and terrorized people out for an Easter weekend stroll. Fifteen” juveniles and two adults were arrested and charged with “misdemeanor reckless conduct.” No report yet on what penalties, if any, have been imposed.

April 2, 2013 The UN General Assembly signed the Arms Trade Treaty, which among other items, covers ammunition and weapon parts and mandatory gun registration. Obama has already approved the draft treaty that was passed. The ATT’s ambiguous wording would permit the executive branch to declare some types of guns “inappropriate” and prevent them from being imported.

In New York City newsstand and convenience store owners complain flash mobs strike them on a regular basis. Bands of teen thugs mob a facility, ransack, steal and destroy what they can’t carry off. Hapless customers who get in their way are in danger of being injured or worse. According to Jon Shane, assistant professor of criminal justice at John Jay College, “They assemble, they do whatever they’re going to do, and then they disassemble in a matter of minutes.” Police, if they respond, arrive well after the event.

Both Chicago and New York have strict gun control laws.

*These events are not to be confused with groups of people spontaneously breaking out in song and dance, an earlier meaning of the term flash mobs.