Not to worry. Thanks to Sam's new gun regulations and curfews the problem should be gone in no time. I feel safer already? You?

The police are wondering why the second shooting injuring two people on N Interstate Ave. It's obvious, the gangs are tired of waiting for Sam's "New Economy" reaching north Portland via the Interstate Light Rail. TOD's aren't working. Maybe TODs stands for "Thugs Of Death" coming your way as mass transit spreads.

I'm sure glad that Sam this last week is meshing around on our city's behalf on the nuclear storage federal issues of Hanford, since he's solved the gang/gun issues of Portland. Hanford is definitely a city issue.

Maybe he's considering running for President.

He may be auditioning for the role of Curly in the forthcoming Three Stooges bio-pic.

Grandstanding about Hanford is a time-honored tradition among Portland politicians. Erik Sten, Neil Goldschmidt, Bob Packwood-- they all take a swipe at it. But they make a speech and go back to their offices and do nothing. Meanwhile, Adams sells out Hayden Island, and they'll probably import nuclear waste for Hanford there.

I slept through shots. Our great mayor was at the Kenton street fair today. It is time to get our neighborhood patrol up again. Please don't shoot me, I will be in a bright yellow vest.....

Haven't these thugs heard about the Mayor's new Task Force?

Perhaps it's not too late to teach mainstream "American Values" in our public schools?

The least we could do is quit building public getaway cars like MAX.

I was in Las Vegas last week. A 16 year old girl died on the street after getting shot in the head and neck at a bus stop, 10:30 PM, on a weeknight in "downtown" LV. Her mom was interviewed on the news the next day, emotionally pleading for witnesses and declaring "her baby" was not involved in gangs. I googled the dead girls name and her My Space page came up. Part of her My Space identity included the declaration "Straight Thuggin' It" after her name. Pictures and comments clearly indicate she was obviously hanging out with the wrong people. Mom was either too troubled with her own problems or completely in denial. These kids are indifferent to death. It's too big for Sam. It's too big for law enforcement. As it's been said before, the chickens have come home to roost.

Obviously the solution is to hire a few more staffers (after he gets the ofice of equity going).

We take the usual mix, some college-educated types who've read too many books from the same professors and are Sam hanger-ons (god forbid.) Polish them up and they can start Tweeting to everyone in town that if we just start more menaningful discussions this will all go away.

Just like the jobs will come, schools will get better and Sellwood bridge will heal itself.

I'd be happy to revamp the City budget and sacrifice a few bioswales and bike boxes (not to mention half bikes skewered on phone poles) in exchange for more cops in the Gang Enforcement unit.

The social-economic-behavioral engineering experiment being jammed down our throats is hurting every person in Portland except property investment firms and their affiliated Wall Street banks. The only difference between one average citizen and another is their ability to absorb the harm being done and their ability to rationalize it as it being for some better purpose. But every day somebody who can't absorb it goes over the edge, either by violence expressed internally or externally, or some other recklessly dangerous behavior. How many bodies have been fished out of the river this year so far? How many jumpers in general? How many shootings? How many DUIIs and drug overdoses? How many domestic or animal abuse cases? How many robberies?

If I were a devious advisor to the cabal perpetrating this monstrosity of historical proportions, I would recommend that some key spokesperson flap their lips about "doing something", perhaps even implementing something that appeases fools and really does nothing, and to stay the course as is and not worry about those who can't adapt and let them continue to eliminate themselves from society, either by crippling fine, incarceration, or the morgue. After all, collateral damage against the compliant has been minimal, so far.

I agree with grumpy, in general, with a glaring caveat: guns should be the registered property of registered owners who can pay for their own psych evals. Passing a psych eval, in addition to a clean police record, should be a minimum requirement for obtaining a gun. And the number of guns any individual can have should be limited to one or two of each species legally available to the public, except hunting rifles. Rifles should be allowed to be collected, unfettered, in the rural homes of all those people in the bitter belt, who are still grimly cursing Obama for his gee-i'm-so-above-your-grimy-fray speech about wedge politics.

With guns in the hands of the deserving, the psychos will have to use machetes, which are easier to evade and less convenient to use, requiring a lot of contact with their unfortunate victims.

Gaye, one problem:

Most of the guns on the street have been stolen. I think that guns should be required to be locked in a secure gun safe except when worn by a CCP holder or when being transported to, say, a practice facility. It should also be illegal to leave a gun in a car when out running errands.