Here's the problem in Chicago (and it ain't concealed carry)

[DonP]

"Rapper Lil Durk gets probation on gun charges, avoids more jail time"

"Rapper Lil Durk will not serve any additional jail time after pleading guilty Tuesday to two weapons charges stemming from a 2013 arrest.

Durk D. Banks, 21, was arrested June 5, 2013, in the 7200 block of South Green Street after police responded to a report of a person with a gun and saw Banks with a handgun. At the time, Banks, of Melrose Park, was less than a month away from completing his parole for a 2012 conviction for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon when he was arrested.

During a hearing Tuesday before Judge Joseph G. Kazmierski Jr., Banks pleaded guilty to one felony count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and one count of felony possession of a firearm, court records show."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/29074981-418/rapper-lil-durk-gets-probation-on-gun-charges-avoids-more-jail-time.html#.U-FZS0inNvk

Another guy with multiple gun crimes gets a slap on the wrist. Just like the gang member that shot and killed Hadiya Pendleton last year, after 3 arrests and 2 probations and a whole week in "Boot Camp".

Well, maybe it will help sell a few more CD's with new street cred?

But by all means, let's focus attention on the guy who shot at the robber in the alley behind the AT&T store last week.

[Duckhunter935]

1. but the gun did it not the criminal

Is that not what keeps being put out?

[NYC_SKP]

3. Hey, lets pass even more laws about those nasty inanimate scary metal tubes!!!!

The poor kid, he's probably broke after having to pay for those lawyers.

[NYC_SKP]

2. So, while serving parole one is caught with a gun, but is released after 30 days, "time served"???

What a chicken shit judge.

He was sentenced to 18 months probation and 50 hours of community service, records show. Kazmierski ordered Banks to serve the first 30 days of his probation in jail, but gave him credit for time he already had served, meaning Banks will not have to spend any more time behind bars.

Banks praised his legal team in a message posted to Twitter, saying “S/o Sam Adams JR great lawyer to have on your side il take probation anyday I don’t smoke or drink anyway.”

The Chicago-based rapper is signed to Def Jam Records, and is expected to release his debut album later this year.

[The Magistrate]

4. Young Mr. Adams, Sir, Is Rapidly Becoming The Legend His Father Was....

I would not blame the judge over-much. The defendant's people hired the right man....

[NYC_SKP]

6. Hopefully not. The younger of the two has not yet become the ring leader of a crack-dealing gang.

Like the elder Adams, if one is to believe the charges.

His father, Dontay Adams, is serving a mandatory life sentence.

I know from experience working with youth that it's hard to escape the culture into which one is born.

One wishes that success in the music industry might provide an opportunity to escape the culture, but, unfortunately, the culture has infiltrated and colored the music industry.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-07-15/news/9407150020_1_powdered-cocaine-life-sentences-guidelines

[The Magistrate]

7. Not Sure You Have The Right Fella, Sir

My mistake in putting an 's' on the end of the name may have been to blame.

The young man's father is Sam Adam Sr., one of the most successful criminal defense attorneys in the city's history. He retired recently, and seems to have left the franchise in his son's hands.

[The Magistrate]

9. You Got Me Curious, Sir

Here is an account where it is spelled right:

http://www.vibe.com/article/lil-durk-pleads-guilty-gun-charges

"According to Durk's attorney, Sam Adam Jr., he's completed over 150 hours of community service with CureViolence at University of Illinois at Chicago. Adam also explained that his client is the exception and is actively trying to better his neighborhood. "

Damn, a man ought to be able to spell his lawyer's name right....

[NYC_SKP]

11. I confess that I knew nothing of the case until I read your original reply.

Curious, I did some research and wasn't looking for the young man's name so much as the history of his father.

All indications are that the rapper's given name is Durk Banks, not Durk Adams (an assumption I made from your reply).

The father, however, does happen to have a different last name "Adams"; Dontay Adams.

From this article:

Lil Durk, whose real name is Durk Banks, is short, puckish, and graffitied with tattoos from his eyebrows to his fingers. He wears his hair cropped short, because his stylish braids were shaved off by the Illinois Department of Corrections. Durk grew up in his grandmother’s threadbare second-floor flat, whose only adornments are an overstuffed couch, a glass dining table, and a painting of praying hands above the mantel. When Durk was two years old, his father, Dontay Banks, was sentenced to life in a federal penitentiary for dealing crack.

While a student at Paul Robeson High School, Durk was introduced to producer/director DGainz, who shot a video for his song “Sneak Dissin’,” and posted it to YouTube.

http://www.themorningnews.org/article/chiraq-drillinois

Not that this one article is conclusive, but it's what came up when I went looking for the status of his father- I never thought about the legal team.

[The Magistrate]

12. Understood, Sir

And as I said, the name Adam is legend here in the criminal courts. It never occurred to me you meant the artiste's father.

You are right about background: I have known people quite literally born into gang affiliation, and grown up to it in the spirit a boy in other circumstances would anticipate taking over his father's business or going into his trade.

[Loudly]

5. So let's put a black man behnd bars rather than make guns and ammo scarce?

I cannot endorse your choice.

You're letting your desire to have a gun get in the way of other more important societal considerations.

[Jenoch]

8. What does race have to do with gun crimes?

What is your plan to make guns and ammo 'scarce' and what have you done to implement your plan?

[Eleanors38]

10. No, let's put the repeat-felon behind bars...

instead of empowering and enabling him. Some may wish to make goo-goo eyes at thugs. I'm not one of them.

[DonP]

13. And if you really believe that, you have blood on your metaphorical hands

Because gang bangers are going to get firearms no matter what your "well meaning", "The Civil War solved all this" claptrap.

Disarming the law abiding doesn't work here and you have no way to disarm the criminal.

Now go away, with 20 shootings in an average weekend, adults are talking about serious, not foolish things here.

[Duckhunter935]

14. why did you have to bring race into this

it should make no difference as he is a multiple offender and should be held accountable.

[hack89]

15. Why can't black men be held responsible for their actions?

Last edited Fri Jan 30, 2015, 04:22 PM - Edit history (1)

Every time a gun owner fucks up, we hear cries that he be punished. Why can't we apply that standard to this gentleman?

[friendly_iconoclast]

16. You're messing up a cheap and obvious playing of the race card with those awkward...

...questions. Well done!

[Lurks Often]

17. There are some 300 MILLION guns in the United States

You have zero chance of amending the 2nd Amendment
You are losing the argument in Congress, most of the court cases and in most of the legislatures.

Exactly what are YOU doing everyday to achieve your goal of making guns and ammo scarce?

Are YOU going to volunteer to go door to door as part of the gun confiscation squads?

Or are you just another in a long line of keyboard commandos?

[sir pball]

18. Black, White, Asian, Native or fucking Rainbow, I want a REPEAT FIREARMS FELON IN PRISON.

Nevermind IMO he should have done five years, nonnegotiable, the first time...he should be facing fifteen now. And 25-ta the next time he's caught as a FELON IN POSSESSION OF A FIREARM.

I'm dying to know though, what possible "societal consideration" is served by not properly punishing this man for his crimes?