Cease Fire???

[IN>IL]

I have a chance to work for Cease Fire, which is one of Chicago Mayor Daily's little anti-gun groups.

Now, I am a "gun person"! I live in northwestern Indiana, I shoot trap on Thrusday nights, I have a concealed carry permit and I carry most of the time!

My job would be "Community Coordinator". I would be going to gang infested neighborhoods and recruiting community resources to help stop the number of senseless shootings in the city. I am all about cutting the number of gang shootings as they make us all look bad!

I think it would be good for there to be at least one gun person in the Cease Fire offices. I know it is an office full of liberals who want nothing more than to outlaw each and every gun in the United States and simply press the delete key over the Second Amendment.

Is this a battle any of you would take on?

mrh



The mission of the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention is to: a) work with community and government partners to reduce violence in all forms; and, b) help design interventions required to better define what should be included in a community or city anti-violence plan.

 

[righteousbarbarian]

i would have a back-up job lined up too.

 

[MaterDei]

You won't be happy and you won't last long. Some might disagree but I say you run from this one.

 

[John Gault]

This is completely your call, but I would definitely NOT take this job. I'm choking back my bile. If you would like some assistence writing a letter about why you don't buy into this crap, let me know and I will help.

 

[Crunker1337]

If you do take it, best of luck to you. You certainly have your work cut out for you but you do have the opportunity to do a lot of good.

I don't know if it's a battle I'd choose to fight, but hey it's your life.

If you do take it I suggest having a backup job available as I don't know that you'll last long at all.

 

[stevemis]

I would be going to gang infested neighborhoods and recruiting community resources to help stop the number of senseless shootings in the city. I am all about cutting the number of gang shootings as they make us all look bad!

Your safety and sanity (being a pro-gunner in an office of rabid antis) aside, let's assume the program actually worked, or the "senseless shootings" (presumably between gangbangers) slowed down for some reason other than this program.... or someone got creative with the statistics to justify the program's funding...

How would this be spun, and how would that make you feel?

 

[Geronimo45]

Is this a battle any of you would take on?

Not without body armor. I reckon you could do some good work there, still - if the folks you work with weren't grating on you too much.

 

[Bartkowski]

Never. I don't even need to think about it.

 

[Cougfan2]

You would be a sheep in the midst of wolves. Just say NOOOOOOO!

 

[Blackbeard]

Ask them if you can carry at work.

 

[cnorman18]

If your job (and this organization)doesn't directly promote anti-gun legislation or hand out anti-gun propaganda, your working there might be a good thing. If they do, it would be dishonest of you to take part in it. The fact that you're surrounded by liberals is irrelevant; most of my jobs have been like that.

Sometimes if you're the only sane man in the room, it's your obligation to stay there and help keep worse things from happening. Sometimes it's your obligation to get the **** out of Dodge. Your call.

 

[Jeff White]

I assume you've seen this story:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ceasefire28_webaug28,0,381933.story

Anti-gang worker had guns, drugs, cops say
By Angela Rozas | Tribune staff reporter
August 28, 2007

An outreach worker for CeaseFire, a Chicago-based group that tries to curb gang conflicts and stop shootings, was arrested over the weekend after an AK-47, a handgun, live marijuana plants and drug paraphernalia were allegedly found in his home, police said.

Louie Velasquez, 23, of the 3400 block of West 37th Place had been working with the program for about four months, said Gary Slutkin, founder of the program. After the organization learned of his arrest, Velasquez was fired, he said.

Velasquez was alone in the home when he was arrested about 10 p.m. Saturday and charged with cannabis production, owning a firearm and ammunition without a valid firearm owner's identification card, police said. Police said he had boxes of ammunition, sun lamps, a loaded .38-caliber revolver and gang paraphernalia, in addition to CeaseFire pamphlets and T-shirts.

CeaseFire's mission is to reduce violence and mediate gang disputes. The group, which has been credited with helping to reduce violence in the city in recent years, employs primarily former gang members who are familiar with the gangs and people in the neighborhoods where they work.

Slutkin said he doesn't know the particulars of Velasquez's case, but he said the possibility of a former gang member being active, or "lapsing" back into gang life is possible, though he believes rare, in his organization.

The program thoroughly screens people who want to work for the organization, he said, taking only a small percentage of applicants. He also said that the organization trains and monitors its members to ensure they are not involved in illicit activity. The organization has about 150 paid staff members, and it has had about 300 during the organization's history.

"Nobody can be 100 percent in their recruitment, selection, supervision and training. But nobody has worked at it more," Slutkin said.

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[email protected]

 

[Zundfolge]

Hmm ... a pro-gun person working for Cease-Fire.

Sounds like the punchline of a joke ... like a Jew joining the Nazis (if you'll forgive the Godwin) or a black guy joining the Klan or something.

 

[Blue4]

What possible good do you think you could do. Until they start treating criminals as criminals and not wayward children nothing is going to change. And that is a job for the police, not a bunch of dreamers and airheads. Stay away.

 

[Thefabulousfink]

It sounds like a nice idea: work from the inside, trying to stop gang violence while protecting gun rights. However what will happen when your bosses tell you to go out into the streets and promote legislation banning the sale of handguns (I believe that is one of CeaseFire's goals). Will you refuse, will you work to sabotage the effort, either is likely to get you fired.

Go for it if you want to give it a try, but be aware that you might have to quit/be fired at any moment and plan you finances accordingly.

 

[2RCO]

Good luck brother! I would keep my resume updated and maybe have backup lined up. When I was in college their was a group of us that took over the Environmentally Concerned Students chapter on our campus. I was the first person in history to be an officer of College Republicans and ECOS. We made it less about tree hugging and more about conservation.

You might be able to affect some change in Cease Fire but you will most likely have to take hourly brakes to throw up from what you hear.

 

[damien]

Don't worry. Most anti-gun people own guns, given the number of them arrested for weapons violations. You should be among friends.

 

[Robert Hairless]

I tend to prefer working to change organizations from within but Mayors Daley, Blooomberg, Fenty, and several others create special situations in which my usual preference isn't a viable option. Internal change is possible only when the organization might be flexible and responsive, not when it's merely a mechanism to further someone's rigid agenda.

In Mayor Daley's case, therefore, I'd feel most comfortable opposing anything he does no matter how pretty it looks. The underlying principle is exactly the same I would use if invited to dine at a restaurant named "Typhoid Mary's": some people poison everything they touch.

 

[Autolycus]

IN>IL: How do you know you will be surrounded by Liberals?

 

[mike101]

"How do you know you will be surrounded by Liberals?"

I hope you're kidding. I have to go along with what Armedbear says.

Being surrounded by liberals won't hurt you. Most of my friends and I are pretty liberal, and we have guns. You will be surrounded by the Brady Bunch. Being surrounded by Brady Bunchers will make you violently ill. Cease Fire is one of their favorite organizations. They are always being talked up on the Brady Blog. They participate in demonstrations with Jesse Jackson. You'll be hanging out with the likes of the infamous Kelli, from the Brady Blog. She will call you a "gun creep". You'll have to listen to their anti-gun, anti- self defense mantra until your head explodes.

You'll last about 5 minutes with those people. That is, unless you like associating with a pack of the worst liars I've ever encountered. These people are incapable of thinking in anything other than anti-gun slogans, and whatever else Paul Helmke tells them to think.

RUN AWAY!

 

[Bubbles]

If you can stomach working there, it might be a good way to gather intel on their future legislative efforts, or even dates/times/locations of gun buy-backs well in advance of them being announced publically so that local gun owners can take advantage of them to turn in their junk.

Personally, I'd rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick.

 

[Gunbabe]

Talk about hating to go to work everyday.

 

[FieroCDSP]

How would this be spun, and how would that make you feel?

As was pointed out, [B}you[/B] might be there to simply stop the violence on the streets in any way. That is admirable. But this is a group who has been known to be anti-gun because "they are guns and guns cause violence". I personally couldn't stand for having to repeat that kind of crap day in/day out.

I agree that violence needs to be addressed, but it should be handled from the criminal aspect, not the tool. A gang-banger arrested on felony drug charges should not be released on anything less than $1Million bond, IMO. Give them a $500 bond and they can be out on the streets immediately, which is exactly what happened to a routine offender in Cleveland who ended up starting a shoot-out that killed a bystander little girl. And guns are the cause?!!!?

We don't need to infiltrate the antis to stop their grabbing plans. We need to present the people with the real facts, opportunities to learn, and 90% of them can make up their own minds.

 

[RoadkingLarry]

Expect to be terminated and possibly charged with a firearms violation (it wouldn't have to be legit) as soon as "they" find out you are packing.

 

[geekWithA.45]

I strongly suspect that the things you will be asked to do will not add up to or contribute substantially towards genuine solutions to the problem of inner city violence.

I submit that if you do the things necessary for a genuine solution, that this will be mostly at cross purposes to CeaseFire's agenda.

Nonetheless, if you want to take a tour behind enemy lines, go right ahead. Dig deep, document well, and write a book about it after they drum you out.