Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)

crimereads.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 234 posts

Re: In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)

#161

Post by leetcrew »

asveikau wrote: post #63
Melting_Harps wrote: post #6

Yeah, many of us that grew up in SoCal recall the heist that led to the so called 'assault weapon' ban, it was completely legal to have a long barrel rifle with 30 round magazines in CA prior to that--they could be open-carried if not loaded back then if I recall correctly, too. This was around the time of the LA riots in the 90s, too... which in my mind all happened at the same time as I recall being a kid sat in fr…

> Yeah, many of us that grew up in SoCal recall the heist that led to the so called 'assault weapon' ban I always heard it was events in California (and Diane Feinstein being a key player) that created the ban, but I never heard a specific event in SoCal being the catalyst. Wikipedia cites a school shooting in Stockton in 1989 and an office shooting in San Francisco in 1993. Outside of the state, Wikipedia also cites…

some cities have been trending upwards in murders over the last decade. Baltimore had almost as many murders in 2019, 2017, and 2015 as it had in 1993, the all time high. the population was significantly larger then, making the 2019 rate the highest it's ever been.

Re: In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)

#162

Post by stordoff »

manfredo wrote: post #69
EGreg wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait wat? These are legal somehow in USA? Can you please trace how and prove it with links?

Automatic guns became regulated in the 1930s, and you need approval by the ATF to own them and they need to be registered. They're in a similar category as bombs, rocket launchers, and whatnot. They are strictly regulated and the government basically knows where each one is at all times. In 1986, they stopped accepting new registrations for automatic guns. So there's a fixed supply of legal automatic firearms that no…

> So there's a fixed supply of legal automatic firearms that normal people can own.

Why do people want them? Is it just a hobby, or is there some utility I'm unware of?

Re: In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)

#163

Post by maxlybbert »

DennisP wrote: post #24
conception wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a point of clarification for those not familiar with the heist, the weapons used were -not- legal in CA or the US. It was also during the time of the Federal Assault Weapons ban. They were not owned nor able to be owned legally during that time. It was also the inspiration for Heat’s shootout!

So to clarify that...the federal Assault Weapons Ban applied to semi-auto rifles with certain ergonomic features, including pistol grips, flash hiders, and folding stocks. (Semi-auto is one bullet per trigger pull, full-auto means you can hold the trigger down and spray bullets.) The North Hollywood robbers had illegally modified their weapons to enable full-auto fire. Since well before 1997, modifying guns like this…

My family moved to California in 1987. I remember a school shooting in 1989 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_sh... ) that led significant California state law restrictions regarding guns. Just like the later federal assault weapons ban, they didn’t do a great job of just targeting the scary-looking guns they wanted to target while leaving just-as-lethal hunting rifles alone.

Re: In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)

#164

Post by maxlybbert »

asveikau wrote: post #84
chordalkeyboard wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lately there has been a resurgence, especially in the political right, of the cities are dangerous mantra. It seems pretty odd to me. Urban violence (such as in Chicago and Minneapolis) might have something to do with it. [0] https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-police-homicides-murder-repo... [1] https://www.startribune.com/staggering-surge-in-violent-carj...

I haven't looked at data in a while, but I am pretty sure those places are safer than they were in the 80s.

If cities have become more dangerous in recent years, people will notice and change their behavior. It doesn’t matter that today’s cities haven’t matched their historic peak, only that they’re worse than they were ten years ago.

Re: In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)

#165

Post by leetcrew »

jeffbee wrote: post #20
paulpauper wrote: post #9

When pundits --on either side of the pollical spectrum--talk about how bad America is or how things are on the verge of collapse societally, show them stats such as this. By almost every metric, as bad as things may seem, they were objectively worse decades ago. Yeah, it feels like people are angrier than ever, especially online, but Twitter is not real life. A combination of increased tech surveillance, longer priso…

It's not just bank robbery. Every crime category is now much lower than it was in 1990, in every jurisdiction of the USA. Even if you take a city that people think is ridiculously dangerous, like Camden, New Jersey, the homicide rate was triple 25 years ago.

the per capita homicide rate for baltimore in 2019 was an all-time high. the previous record was set in 2017, and the record before that in 2015.

Re: In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)

#166

Post by yardie »

stordoff wrote: post #162
manfredo wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Automatic guns became regulated in the 1930s, and you need approval by the ATF to own them and they need to be registered. They're in a similar category as bombs, rocket launchers, and whatnot. They are strictly regulated and the government basically knows where each one is at all times. In 1986, they stopped accepting new registrations for automatic guns. So there's a fixed supply of legal automatic firearms that no…

> So there's a fixed supply of legal automatic firearms that normal people can own. Why do people want them? Is it just a hobby, or is there some utility I'm unware of?

I'd say it's a hobby. Bullets are expensive in quantity. A full automatic can chew through $100 worth in just a minute. There are a few gun ranges near me that keep them available to rent. You can relive your A-Team / CoD dreams for a few hundred dollars.

Outside of the military they have no utility whatsoever.

Re: In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)

#167

Post by ghaff »

maxlybbert wrote: post #164
asveikau wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't looked at data in a while, but I am pretty sure those places are safer than they were in the 80s.

If cities have become more dangerous in recent years, people will notice and change their behavior. It doesn’t matter that today’s cities haven’t matched their historic peak, only that they’re worse than they were ten years ago.

Furthermore, a non-trivial number of people are just looking for reasons to move out of cities right now. Consider that many cities that we consider "elite" were losing population well into the 1990s. There's nothing written in stone about college-educated young people continuing to migrate to cities (which is pretty much the demographic that has moved the numbers) as they have over the past 20 years or so.

Re: In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)

#168

Post by ghaff »

CalChris wrote: post #156
ajmurmann wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep hearing that crime in rural areas has been going up and that now even cake wrangling is a problem liked in old wild west movies. Your general point that on a lawyer scale we are safer than ever stands Best source short googling could find: https://www.wsj.com/articles/nothing-but-you-and-the-cows-an...

You always hear about Chicago gun violence but that's because Chicago is a dense city. If you correct for population density, rural America is a blood bath.

Nothing like Baltimore and St. Louis but Chicago is still in the top 10 for murders in at least some measure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b...

Re: In 1980s Los Angeles, a bank was robbed every hour (2019)

#169

Post by bhickey »

conception wrote: post #13
Melting_Harps wrote: post #6

Yeah, many of us that grew up in SoCal recall the heist that led to the so called 'assault weapon' ban, it was completely legal to have a long barrel rifle with 30 round magazines in CA prior to that--they could be open-carried if not loaded back then if I recall correctly, too. This was around the time of the LA riots in the 90s, too... which in my mind all happened at the same time as I recall being a kid sat in fr…

Just a point of clarification for those not familiar with the heist, the weapons used were -not- legal in CA or the US. It was also during the time of the Federal Assault Weapons ban. They were not owned nor able to be owned legally during that time. It was also the inspiration for Heat’s shootout!

> It was also the inspiration for Heat’s shootout!

The North Hollywood shootout was in 1997, Heat came out two years prior.

Post reply on HN