Gangs and the banning of patches.

Sometimes a silly, unworkable, idea just doesn't die.

This caught my eye in the paper this morning. link.

As I pointed out last week here there is one very big problem with this idea.

To quote The New Zealand Little Oxford Dictionary;

gang n. 1. band of people associating for some (usu. antisocial or criminal) purpose. 2. set of workers, slaves, or
prisoners.

The wording of any such law will have to very carefully define what a gang is. Completely dropping meaning #2 and removing the brackets and the word usually in meaning #1 in the dictionary for starters. That is as well as defining what is antisocial and what gang regalia is. Other wise the patches on a kids school uniform, rewards for participation and achievement as well as house colour, would be outlawed as well as scout proficiency badges.

How about just clamping down on the criminal behaviour?

Would you believe that this animosity between Black Power and Mongrel Mob in Wanganui is so old that nobody knows what started it and now it is over the difference between blue and red? That is what was reported on television last week.

Maybe mandatory IQ tests for gun licence holders would be of assistance. But then again, given the non law abiding nature of these two gangs, maybe not.

It's all a bit like the over reported gang problem in North Shore between the Bloods and the Crypts last year. That basically came down to the colour of the uniform sweatshirts worn by to neighbouring secondary schools and an assumption by a reporter who reported a minor problem as a major one.

Asking the Cancer Society nicely to stop selling blue and red bandanas maybe be more effective than any law.

Could it really be as simple as that?