On Sunday, over 190 members of a biker gang were arrested after a bloody shootout in Waco, Texas, that left nine people dead. Waco Police Sgt. Patrick Swanton said the scene was "probably one of the most gruesome crime scenes I've ever seen in my 34 years of law enforcement."
But Sandy Rios, governmental affairs director for the conservative American Family Association, sees potential in these men to put their talents to good use.
“Police have their hands full fighting our real enemies -- the cartels, the Islamists -- and now they’re fighting motorcycle gangs?” Rios said during her radio show on Monday. “I find myself thinking, let’s have a little retraining for motorcycle gangs and put them on our side fighting our enemies. That’s what we really need.”
It might be tough to get these gangs to start combating drug cartels, since they themselves are drug cartels. Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, according to the 2013 report from the FBI's National Gang Intelligence Center, are "highly structured criminal organizations whose members engage in criminal activities such as violent crime, weapons trafficking, and drug trafficking."
Though OMGs comprise only 2.5 percent of U.S. gang activity, an FBI survey of law enforcement officers found that 14 percent of respondents identified OMGs as the most problematic gangs in their jurisdictions due to "solid organizational structure, criminal sophistication, and their tendency to employ violence to protect their interests."
The conversation around the biker gang shootout has been significantly different from the reaction to urban street gangs. No pundits have inquired about white-on-white violence, the lack of positive male leadership or why these bikers would ransack their own community.
Check out a clip of her comments below and the full show here.
[H/T Right Wing Watch]
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