....for exactly what it is:
NEWARK, N.J. — Loiterers and criminals on the nighttime streets of New Jersey's largest city have some company — concerned citizens and government workers who are cruising neighborhoods in an effort to reduce crime.
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The program also helps Booker politically (Newark mayor Cory Booker -- ed.) by harnessing the same popular angst over community violence as his opponents, who have been holding anti-violence protest rallies in key city intersections.
John Sharpe James — son of former Mayor Sharpe James — is part of that movement. The former U.S. Army major views the caravan program as strictly a political ploy.
"I see no effect" from them on street violence, James said.
And I would bet no one else will see any effect either, considering the fact that New Jersey by and large doesn't respect its subjects' right of self-defense. It's all going to boil down, really, to the citizens saying, "Leave us alone! Or we'll say 'Leave us alone' again! And we're going to be very, very angry!"
Of course you know what the criminals are going to do, considering the fact that they by definition don't obey the laws and will therefore have the advantage when it comes to force. I got a chuckle out of one of the participants in this program saying that "the goal is deterrence," considering they don't have the proper tools for deterrence due to their state's draconian firearm laws. Neighborhood patrols are a great thing, but what happens when things, as the 'Dog might put it, go pear-shaped?
On the upside, though, I think things going pear-shaped for the people involved here could be a good thing as it could lead to a challenge to the state's aforementioned firearm laws -- assuming, that is, they don't get thrown out with incorporation of the Second Amendment. We'll see, I guess.
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