God this annoys me to no end, but anyway, this just happened to me.


So I was at my aunt's house try to upload Adobe CS4 master series on her computer
(with no good outcomes)but I got thirsty, so I drove to the store(thats the name of the place….don't ask). After buying said tasty beverage I drove back to my aunt's house. Now, where she lives isn't a bad neighborhood, but then again, it ain't a good one either. I stepped out of my Jeep and grabbed my drink(can't forget that!) When two kids, I'm assuming are 15 or 16 walking on the other side of the street, and one of them is eyeballing me funny, then out of no where he asks me “Ey' Are you a Tribe boi or a Trap Boi!?” With a cocked eyebrow I started to think Trap or Tribe? The hell is he talking about?

Then it hit me, back in highschool there we're two rival gangs that shared those names, I being a smart person, avoided gangs like the plague. Apparently I was wearing the colors of the rival gang (black and blue, colors I wear a lot). I promptly told them neither and went back in my car for something else, where as I did that I heard screamed at me “You better not be either, or my home boi are gonna have to kick yo' ass!” with a little snide laugh at the end.

I rolled my eyes at them, I'm a college student I'm not about to fight some little kids, after that they started calling out random gang stuff and flashing gang signs at me, all I could do was shake my head. Gangs are so backward, I don't see why people join them. This every happned to anyone else? or if it hasn't, what do you think about this situation?

Apparently my step brother resembled someone from a school gang, and a bunch of kids from a rival gang decided to kick the shit out of him. He was hospitalised, but after they figured out that they made a mistake, they actually went to apologise. He fared a lot better than the guy they mistook him for though, he was killed.

I can't remember the details since I was only twelve at the time, but that's roughly what happened.

Pretty much every time I go out to paint or make street art. I tend to frequent the “bad” parts of town since I figure those are the people who might appreciate a bit of colour or humour the most and that's usually where the businesses are that will give me permission to paint. I get a lot of yelling because I carry a hankerchief in my back pocket to wipe my hands of paint, blow my nose, etc and around here a black hankerchief is a symbol of one of the local gangs. Funny thing is, it's usually the gang members who leave me alone and have actually once or twice reminded me of where their territory ends and I should start hiding the hankerchief. The ones who usually yell at me are the same kind who were yelling at you. Young kids who are trying to be tough and prove themselves and become part of the family that their gang is.

The only incident I've really had so far is that a couple of those kids got pissy that I was painting over their crappy tags ( Which is pretty much the norm so far as street art and graffiti go. ). One of the older gang members who I've run into a couple times said he didn't care about that particular wall or tags so I wasn't really worried about getting trouble from them. These two kids decided to get pissy and drop names and start hurling threats at me. They got in my face and said something about how they were going to get “Daz” ( The very guy who had given me his blessing to paint there. ) to kick my ass. I just stood up to my full height which was a good foot taller than them and told them to go ahead since he and I were good friends. They thought I was bluffing until I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my roommate and started talking to him. After that they took off.

After I got back and explained what the hell I had been talking about on the phone we both had a pretty good laugh.

im a gang of one

I'm part of the admin gang at DD. Us and the mod gang rule this place ok?

Teenagers… Boys… Teenage boys…

Thank God I never was one – and grew up in a small rural area. The girls fought more than the boys did, and it was over stupid personal things (like boys) Considerably less stupid than colors though. People were killed by cars and weather, not each other.

I don't have any stories to share, but I'm just going to be immature for a second and say:

hahaha, “trap”.

Gangs are lame.
It's just a group of people who pretend to be all badass, thinking that everybody will fear them.
They are dead wrong.

Ryuthehedgewolf
Gangs are lame.
It's just a group of people who pretend to be all badass, thinking that everybody will fear them.
They are dead wrong.

I can think of no reason to be afraid of a 15 year-old with a handgun and a desire to “prove” himself. Nope. No reason. Oh, wait…There's that whole thing about me not wanting to get shot. Crap. I always forget about that part.

Hyena H_ll

Ryuthehedgewolf
Gangs are lame.
It's just a group of people who pretend to be all badass, thinking that everybody will fear them.
They are dead wrong.

I can think of no reason to be afraid of a 15 year-old with a handgun and a desire to “prove” himself. Nope. No reason. Oh, wait…There's that whole thing about me not wanting to get shot. Crap. I always forget about that part.

Because he'll actually shoot you?
What if he's afraid?
What if he knows that if he were to shoot you (or anybody for that matter) that he could very well spend the rest of his life (or at least a long time) in jail?

Plus, it's not as if you couldn't somehow get away or anything. Plus, how often do you see 15-year-olds with handguns? Be honest here.

Ryuthehedgewolf
Because he'll actually shoot you?
What if he's afraid?
What if he knows that if he were to shoot you (or anybody for that matter) that he could very well spend the rest of his life (or at least a long time) in jail?

Teenage boys in gangs don't think about those things. They have an immortality complex and don't believe there are consequences to actions (or think they don't apply to them, or have chosen to decide they “don't care” ). If teenagers were logical beings that thought about consequences, we'd hear a LOT less about teens in drinking related traffic accidents. Teenage pregnancy, vandalism, and shoplifting would be practically nonexistant.

I'm not saying all teenagers are idiots, but the ones involved in this crap really ARE like that. They don't think. That's the problem.

And yes, teenagers can get hold of guns very easily. Their parents have guns. Their parents don't lock up their weapons because they don't give a damn about their kids. That's why the kids are in gangs. – More often though, the kids have knives or other blades. You can buy a deadly weapon from any art store, mall, WalMart… And kids can get guns by other means regardless of gun control regulations. You think a “gangster” is going to diligently go through legal channels and paperwork?

Btw, when I went to college (graduated two years ago), murders made the news in my town several times a year. It was almost always related to drugs and almost always teenagers (sometimes teenage bystanders not involved with the drugs). Guns were common weapons in these crimes.

Ryuthehedgewolf

Hyena H_ll

Ryuthehedgewolf
Gangs are lame.
It's just a group of people who pretend to be all badass, thinking that everybody will fear them.
They are dead wrong.

I can think of no reason to be afraid of a 15 year-old with a handgun and a desire to “prove” himself. Nope. No reason. Oh, wait…There's that whole thing about me not wanting to get shot. Crap. I always forget about that part.

Because he'll actually shoot you?
What if he's afraid?
What if he knows that if he were to shoot you (or anybody for that matter) that he could very well spend the rest of his life (or at least a long time) in jail?

Plus, it's not as if you couldn't somehow get away or anything. Plus, how often do you see 15-year-olds with handguns? Be honest here.

Where I live, it's quite common for young kids to carry guns. My good buddy (who was 25 at the time) got shot last year by a 15 year old when he tried to defend himself during a home invasion. And stabbed. But the stabber was 19, I think.

It was more common back home in New Orleans- I'd guess that 95% of the shootings in my old neighborhoods (excluding gang-on-gang violence) were done by teenagers. The problem is not that they don't know they'll go to jail; it's that they don't stop to think. Teenagers are more impulsive and more emotional than adults. Sorry, but it's true. It's the younger kids who are more likely to shoot you. It might be because they're afraid, or feel like they have to shoot someone who “disrespects” them in order to maintain their status, or simply want to impress their fellows by showing how “hard” they are.

And as for “getting away”- sorry, but I'm a 5'4" white chick. I'm stronger than average for my size, but most teenage guys could probably keep me down without a weapon; let alone with a gun to my head. And if you're being held at gunpoint, unless you have professional training at disarming someone, it's really not smart to try. (That's how my friend got shot.)

Hyena H_ll

Ryuthehedgewolf

Hyena H_ll

Ryuthehedgewolf
Gangs are lame.
It's just a group of people who pretend to be all badass, thinking that everybody will fear them.
They are dead wrong.

I can think of no reason to be afraid of a 15 year-old with a handgun and a desire to “prove” himself. Nope. No reason. Oh, wait…There's that whole thing about me not wanting to get shot. Crap. I always forget about that part.

Because he'll actually shoot you?
What if he's afraid?
What if he knows that if he were to shoot you (or anybody for that matter) that he could very well spend the rest of his life (or at least a long time) in jail?

Plus, it's not as if you couldn't somehow get away or anything. Plus, how often do you see 15-year-olds with handguns? Be honest here.

Where I live, it's quite common for young kids to carry guns. My good buddy (who was 25 at the time) got shot last year by a 15 year old when he tried to defend himself during a home invasion. And stabbed. But the stabber was 19, I think.

It was more common back home in New Orleans- I'd guess that 95% of the shootings in my old neighborhoods (excluding gang-on-gang violence) were done by teenagers. The problem is not that they don't know they'll go to jail; it's that they don't stop to think. Teenagers are more impulsive and more emotional than adults. Sorry, but it's true. It's the younger kids who are more likely to shoot you. It might be because they're afraid, or feel like they have to shoot someone who “disrespects” them in order to maintain their status, or simply want to impress their fellows by showing how “hard” they are.

And as for “getting away”- sorry, but I'm a 5'4" white chick. I'm stronger than average for my size, but most teenage guys could probably keep me down without a weapon; let alone with a gun to my head. And if you're being held at gunpoint, unless you have professional training at disarming someone, it's really not smart to try. (That's how my friend got shot.)

After reading Usedbooks post, and your post, I kind of see what you mean.

And you couldn't really hit them because couldn't you get put in jail for that?
This is coming from a teenage boy's perspective, so it's not all that realistic ;P
Just sayin.

Ryuthehedgewolf
And you couldn't really hit them because couldn't you get put in jail for that?
This is coming from a teenage boy's perspective, so it's not all that realistic ;P
Just sayin.

No, you can't hit them because they'll shoot you!
And if someone attacks you, you're legally allowed to use whatever force necessary to “subdue” them. Very rarely do people get prosecuted for legitimate self defense.

Hyena H_ll

Ryuthehedgewolf
And you couldn't really hit them because couldn't you get put in jail for that?
This is coming from a teenage boy's perspective, so it's not all that realistic ;P
Just sayin.

No, you can't hit them because they'll shoot you!
And if someone attacks you, you're legally allowed to use whatever force necessary to “subdue” them. Very rarely do people get prosecuted for legitimate self defense.

Not if you can somehow distract him or her (in most cases, it's a him) and take the gun away.

But that's not very realistic.
I suppose you're right :D

Ryuthehedgewolf
Not if you can somehow distract him or her (in most cases, it's a him) and take the gun away.

No, no, no! You do not try to take the gun away! I'm not trying to be a jerk to you, but I'm tellin' you- that is how you get shot. Usually if some punk kid's got a gun to your head, they want your wallet and your phone. You don't try to talk them out of it. You don't try to fight them. You give it to them. They go away.

Hyena H_ll

Ryuthehedgewolf
Not if you can somehow distract him or her (in most cases, it's a him) and take the gun away.

No, no, no! You do not try to take the gun away! I'm not trying to be a jerk to you, but I'm tellin' you- that is how you get shot. Usually if some punk kid's got a gun to your head, they want your wallet and your phone. You don't try to talk them out of it. You don't try to fight them. You give it to them. They go away.

Hahaha it's all good.
But in some cases, doesn't the kid usually shoot you anyway?

Kiruru
God this annoys me to no end, but anyway, this just happened to me.


So I was at my aunt's house try to upload Adobe CS4 master series on her computer
(with no good outcomes)but I got thirsty, so I drove to the store(thats the name of the place….don't ask). After buying said tasty beverage I drove back to my aunt's house. Now, where she lives isn't a bad neighborhood, but then again, it ain't a good one either. I stepped out of my Jeep and grabbed my drink(can't forget that!) When two kids, I'm assuming are 15 or 16 walking on the other side of the street, and one of them is eyeballing me funny, then out of no where he asks me “Ey' Are you a Tribe boi or a Trap Boi!?” With a cocked eyebrow I started to think Trap or Tribe? The hell is he talking about?

Then it hit me, back in highschool there we're two rival gangs that shared those names, I being a smart person, avoided gangs like the plague. Apparently I was wearing the colors of the rival gang (black and blue, colors I wear a lot). I promptly told them neither and went back in my car for something else, where as I did that I heard screamed at me “You better not be either, or my home boi are gonna have to kick yo' ass!” with a little snide laugh at the end.

I rolled my eyes at them, I'm a college student I'm not about to fight some little kids, after that they started calling out random gang stuff and flashing gang signs at me, all I could do was shake my head. Gangs are so backward, I don't see why people join them. This every happned to anyone else? or if it hasn't, what do you think about this situation?

You did the right thing. You de-escalated the conflict. Good.

But if I were you, make sure next time that you're ARMED. Not necessarily with a gun. These weapons are easy to conceal and deploy:
- balisong
- spring knife
- kubaton
- ninja spike
- SAP CAP
- SAP gloves
- Defensive belt buckle
- knife-pen
- steel-toed boots (technically not a weapon but if you get kicked by one of those, that's gonna hurt like hell)

Also learn martial arts. Learn anything that's FULL CONTACT (most likely, muai thai and jujitsu gyms do the full contact stuff).

You gotta be prepared.


As for your other question about gangs, the reason people join them because of our inherent tribal nature.

Humans by nature want a sense of belonging. We are social animals. We're not like turtles (some species) or spiders.

A gang is a unit of society that provides the feeling of family love. A gang provides brotherhood, belongingness, etc.
As more and more families are broken (by design), more and more of the youth become disaffected.

And it makes them angry.

That is why, they think its good to join a gang. Doesn't matter if its a street gang or the military or police (gang psychology is inculcated in the military and police as part of their training methods).

strange iba…in indiana, the only nuetral colors are white and black…

there are “gangs” mostly made up of middle class white guys who are straight “thug”…all are wanna-bes that hang out with the black guys in the local city…which isnt that big.

nobody ever bothered me, because i was on the wrestling team, and that automatically intimidated them…even tho i was no where near the strongest…

Gangs aren't a lot of trouble around where I live. If there were any they're too small to notice. Still every night I'm looking out for stuff like this since they can cause a lot of trouble for the clients my boss was hired by.

I WAS armed at work. I carried around a Maglite that uses 6 D size batteries. I usually held it in the middle so it didn't look so big. However, my boss saw it and put out a new memo a week later…

Now no one in the field is allowed to carry any flashlights that use over 2 D size cells. They must be made of plastic and use normal (not LED) bulbs. And these rules are for OUR safety! Sometimes I wonder what in blazes was he smoking when he decided on those rules…

sorry… I really shouldn't rant like that…

Ryuthehedgewolf
But in some cases, doesn't the kid usually shoot you anyway?

I think that falls in the “better safe than sorry” bracket. Sure, you could be caught by the one kid who gets the money, then freaks out and shoots you anyway. But you might also get the kid who's scared shitless of having to shoot anyone and is looking for any reason to end this whole thing.



As for carrying a weapon yourself, I guess it really depends on what kind of place you're in. From what I've been told (and I don't have any numbers to back this up), is that carrying a weapon makes you more likely to be harmed in an incident of violence. The logic being that if someone pulls a knife on you and you pull a knife back, that takes them out of “rob you” mode and into “kill you before you kill them” mode. The priority is no longer to take your possessions, but to make you no longer a threat to their life.

I guess it's hard to gauge. Logically, if they're out to kill you in the first place, your possessions be damned, than you're definitely better off having a weapon. It's just hard to know beforehand, or even during.


What was your job anyway, Lonnehart? If it's some kind of security position, I'd be quite surprised.

Inkmonkey
What was your job anyway, Lonnehart? If it's some kind of security position, I'd be quite surprised.

I'm what people call a “rent a cop”. My boss is given instructions by the client, who then decides which one of us is “qualified” to watch the client's business…

@ kyupol:
Carrying weapons is one thing; knowing how to use them is another; having the presence of mind to do so in a chaotic and frightening situation is yet another. Remember that any weapon you have can be taken away and used against you, and be very mindful whether the situation really calls for a physical confrontation. If there's no other way, and you feel there is an imminent threat to your person, then yes: fight like hell. If they just want to scare you out of their “territory”, or want your possessions, then think twice.

It's important to note that loss of property is not worth risking your life. A lot of people I know that have gotten injured or killed during robberies or altercations felt the need to “fight back” in a situation they otherwise might have walked away from unhurt. They did this more because it is a humiliating and dehumanizing thing to be put in that position, and they were angry at having their “pride” damaged. It was not because their lives or the lives of others were in danger at the time.

The most important “weapon” you can have in that kind of situation is a clear and collected mind. Nothing is worth losing your life over.

Gangs are just groups of insecure teenagers who want to get their way. The whole gang concept is so messed up it almost makes me laugh until I remember dozens of my classmates are in gangs. It's just teenagers tend to be more emotional than adults because they think otherwise they won't be heared or lsitened to. They use force to get their point across, and they have no idea what they're doing.
High School pretty much gets the teenager point across. I'm one of the few high teenagers who isn't a stuck up, slutty, jackass.

Hyena H_ll
The most important “weapon” you can have in that kind of situation is a clear and collected mind. Nothing is worth losing your life over.

No shit. When those two kids walked up to me I was scared shitless. Not because I couldn't take a couple 5 ft nothing kids in a fight, but I had no clue what they might be packing. Sure I could have sprayed them in the face with the can of paint or tried to punch them, but who knows where that would have gotten me. If it had turned out they wanted to do anything other than talk themselves up I probably just would have taken off running like hell and just left all my paint and stuff behind. I've learned that it's much better to get laughed at for being spooked into running by a couple kids than to stick around and risk them even demanding anything of you that you might not have or have them decide they need to give a gringo ( That's how I'm thought of. ) a Brazilian necktie to prove how cruel they are.

Using your brain to watch and learn what constitutes a threat and what doesn't is possibly the most important thing on earth to remember.

Hahaha… The only “gangs' here traditionally were ”bogans“ and surfies”.
Well, for the youth anyway.

Of course there are the real gangs- Motorcycle gangs. We call them Bikies. :)
The two main gangs were (I'm not sure what the story is now) the Gypsy Jokers and the Coffin Cheaters. They're both extremely violent when they want to be, heavily armed and like killing each other and police if the occasion presents itself… And taking over the occasional country town for a little while.

That's about the only real life Mad Max thing that happens her in Oz. But I think the police finally cracked right down on then a few years ago with some very draconian tactics (thank heavens), so now they can't crap without being watched at all times.

-Those guys were big-time though, not street level gangs. They were serious organised crime, with national and some international connections. You weren't likely o bump into them much unless you happen to come across one of their mass rides or be stuck in a town they visited.

Lonnehart's point is a bit funny, since the lower level members of the gangs would work as security guards and bouncers. Dangerous people…

————————–

For youth “gangs” though… Surfies and bogans were the traditional Aussie kids… Dangerous youth gangs these days are drawn from the peoples who are currently on the margins, or the outside of society for various reasons. In my city that's small groups of young Aboriginal people (unfortunately), large groups of bored “white” kids, organised and rather vicious Vietnamese groups (they normally attack each other though, swords have frequently been involved), and the latest group which is poor migrant youth from various war torn African countries.

No of it is too big a problem really, or something that's hard to deal with or understand. It just seems a fact that younger people, especially thouse who're less well off or who have had difficult lives at home like to join together in groups for friendship and support with people who have shared similar experiences. And in groups people get stupider and more rowdy- because the bigger the group the more your confidence, the less responsibility you have for anything personally.

ozoneocean
Lonnehart's point is a bit funny, since the lower level members of the gangs would work as security guards and bouncers. Dangerous people…

That was true for the company I work for ‘til the office decided to require that we submit official court/police clearances (and they check these too). A lot of my coworkers were let go because they had criminal records, and we don’t hire anyone who's got something serious on their record (theft, violence, anything that would give us doubt about the trustworthiness of an applicant).

Now if those gang members have a clean police record, they could be working for us…

I live in a town of about 30,000 with more rednecks than anything else, but we still have two rival gangs that spray paint all over our fair city. I live in Cumberland Maryland. These little shits think they are so hardcore growing up on our mean streets. Its friggin pathetic. Its not Baltimore or New York there is nothing hardcore here its just a bunch of doucebag teenagers thinking they are cool.

Where I live, we didn't really have problems with smaller gangs, just groups of kids who liked to cause trouble every once and awhile. We have more trouble with the larger gangs like the Crips and Bloods who distribute drugs and other illegal materials. They generally left the populance alone and actually haven't really fought eachother.

It's funny cause where I work, a Six Flags theme park, they come every year for one day in October and they fight within the park. No one gets killed or hurt badly, but it's still better then them killing eachother. Just wish they did it elsewhere …

subcultured
im a gang of one

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2194/is_2_72/ai_98253653/pg_1
"A criminal street gang refers to three or more persons having a common identifying sign or symbol or an identifiable leadership who continuously or regularly associate in the commission of criminal activities."