Slowly but surely, the rights of people are being chipped away

[SyberBitch]

Those are some excellent questions, Syber. Have you ever had any interaction with any MC; 81 or otherwise? Regardless, there is more good done by Clubs - outlaw or otherwise - than any LEO group known to man.

My ol' mans Club does charity runs, takes on Toys for Tots, rides for breast cancer research, feeds the homeless, volunteers for soup kitchens and there is, in fact a story in my own Biker forum about a 1% group that heard of a family who was destitute and had no way to give the children of that family presents for Christmas at which point several officers from the Club went shopping, with the children on the back of their sleds to bring home what the children needed to have a decent Christmas.

MC's are like pit bulls and guns; you only hear about the bad things that happen in those groups. You never hear about the good these people do.

If you are a member at 24, read this thread. This will give you a clue as to what the "hardcore, criminal, law-breaking" Bikers are about. [color="#0000ff"]A little look into a MC's house [/color]

I have to guess that MC = Motocycle Club? I've had interaction with a few motorcycle folks in the past.. as I've said before, I've found them to be decent people though, up to this point at least. Of course I also recognize, that just as with any group of people, there are going to be groups who are not 'good people'. I've even met some of the 'infamous' "Hells Angels" members, and they seemed like perfectly nice people, but I know that there are factions who are into 'bad things'. I have it on good authority, for example, that at least one group in the San Jose area, deals cocaine and sometimes does even worse things for money. That in no way makes ALL biker groups bad, but no doubt some are. But hell... there are evil Girl Scouts.

I can understand certain circumstances where the civil rights of certain groups WOULD be taken away, and maybe that group in question is one of those, but I would just HOPE that they truly do deserve the scrutiny they are being given.

Australia has a bit of a history for being less tolerant of certain groups anyway... I don't know if it was ever overturned, but Scientology was kicked out of Oz a long time ago. In the US, I would hope that groups like the KKK and Skinheads would be among the first to have their 'civil liberties' trimmed, if any.

As for Opie's comment

Chipping away the rights of organised gangs is something I and every other decent human being with half a brain supports.

Aside from my first thought that this is simply a troll statement, I definitely disagree with it. There are many groups which could easily fall under the label 'gangs', but are harmless and simply seeking that tribal, family-like connection within a group of like-minded souls. That doesn't make them any less deserving of 'rights'. I say, let the groups' actions speak for themselves. If a group proves itself to be overwhelmingly 'bad', fine... they SHOULD be monitored closely and action should be taken against them. Otherwise, leave them the hell alone.