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Comment by spoonjim | Hacker News Reader

This is not because of the technology but because of broken governance.

When someone is shooting other people, that person must be removed from society if that society is to remain functional.

The fact is that American cities simply do not do this. Japan does it. Singapore does it. And if the US incarcerated every person who fired a bullet at a person for the remainder of their natural lifespan, we could do it too.

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Aside from a couple of dysfunctional police departments, everyone wants to catch violent criminals and put them away—no one is arguing against that. The problem is that they can’t be found for a multitude of reasons, this is also compounded by how easy it is to acquire bullets and firearms in the US.

I think California tried to tackle this issue by fingerprinting bullets (microscopic stamps I think) which can then be traced back to the person who bought them, but these people just end up buying bullets from other states and transporting them to California.

This is a very complex issue, prosecutors can’t just wave a magic wand and selectively put these people away. You have to find them, and build a case against them that has proof beyond a reasonable doubt that they were the perpetrator(s).

“Everyone wants to catch violent criminals and put them away”

I assure you this is not true in Memphis and many other cities with District Attorneys that are focused on elimination of jail time for nearly all crime. The DA blames gun policy, but then releases violent criminals (with real victims) back out on minimal bond. It is really sick. It’s not a complex issue.

100% this, with the modern redefinition of the word “racist” a lot of statistical correlation is being being reinterpreted as causation and people in control are attempting to manually “fix” systems that aren’t broken. It’s gotten so bad that crime itself is no longer punished in the name of “reparations”

In fact, the technology has never got to the point where it works reliably: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microstamping

Fill the prisons with police, you say? Sounds good to me.

Your worldview has produced Chicago. Mine has produced Singapore.

Mmm, chicago

Singapore has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world regarding ownership and possession. If you want America to be more like Singapore, start by repealing the second amendment, not increasing policing.

> In addition, Singapore society is highly regulated through the criminalisation of many activities which are considered as fairly harmless in other countries. These include failing to flush toilets after use,[90] littering,[91] jaywalking,[92] the possession of pornography,[93] the sale of chewing gum,[94] and, prior to December 2022, sexual activity such as oral and anal sex between men.[95]

> Singapore retains both corporal punishment (in the form of caning) and capital punishment (by hanging) as punishments for serious offences. For some offences, most notably trafficking in drugs above a certain specified quantity, the imposition of these penalties is mandatory.

I’d rather hear gunshots and deal with property crime every day than be subjected to the above.

Now ask the mothers of the recipients of those gunshots.

> I’d rather hear gunshots and deal with property crime every day than be subjected to the above.

I wouldn't. Which is a good reason to not have the same laws everywhere, I suppose!

The laws sound ridiculous but they're generally not enforced. For example, I came across some truly disgusting public toilets in Singapore (granted, this happened rarely).

Sex between two men, while previously banned, was not enforced either. It is not uncommon to see openly homosexual men in Singapore.

> This is not because of the technology but because of broken governance.

I mean it has a pretty big thing to do with it. It objectively doesn't work

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