Home Grown American Gangs Cause More Damage Than Domestic ISIS Terrorist Groups

Yesterday I was at the car dealership having my car's oil changed.   While waiting with  two other customers---a young man in his late twenties and a gentleman in his late fifties---we had the usual  discussion about how dealerships rip you off with car repair costs.

Then our discussion moved onto  the local Akron-Cleveland economy, the condition of professional sports in Cleveland, the contrast between local sports hero LeBron James versus Cleveland Brown's Johnny Manziel  and then a great discussion about  past and present tales of  organized crime figures in Youngstown, Ohio.  

Pittsburgh Mobster Lenny Strollo Kills Joey Naples 

The young man then piped in about terrorism and how Trump is correct about banning Muslims to prevent terrorism as well as  the importance of maintaining our Second Amendment rights to bear arms to protect us from terrorists. 

A car dealership is not a place to have the more complicated discussion about politics or gun ownership.   But I did walk away from the conversation thinking that politicians and the government have created such a paranoia about domestic ISIS terrorists and don't address the gang violence which plagues most of our major cities. 

Americans need to demand that our politicians address the domestic terrorism of local and regional gangs which cause more havoc than domestic ISIS terrorists.

After reading Law Officer's article Gang and Drugs,  a person's head spins thinking about the inter workings between gangs, violence, drugs, extortion, sex etc.  The author(s) offered possible solutions to breaking  some of the gang activity which many times is hitting the gangs' pocketbooks. 

According to the FBI:

Some 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. According to the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment report, gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions, and up to 90 percent in others. 

Americans of all races, nationalities, and economic statures should start asking politicians what can be used to pursue and end gang violence.     There are more gang members in the country than domestic ISIS terrorists.   

Gangs are a creeping cancer and have caused and will continue to cause more damage than any domestic ISIS terrorist group.