Kansas City sets youth curfew after weekend shooting

(Reuters) - The weekend shooting of three teenagers at a large late-night "flash mob" gathering prompted local authorities to pass an ordinance on Thursday that sets curfews as early as 9 p.m. for people under age 18.

At the urging of Mayor Sly James, the Kansas City Council passed the ordinance 13-0, allowing police to issue citations to parents whose children violate the curfew. Parents can be fined up to $500 per violation.

Three youths aged 13 to 16 were injured by apparently random gunshots at about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday night in an upscale shopping and restaurant district called Country Club Plaza.

James was nearby when the shots rang out and says his bodyguards shoved him down into a flower bed to keep him safe.

There have been other so-called "flash mob" gatherings of youngsters in Kansas City in recent years, but the weekend shootings pushed the issue to the top of the council's agenda.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/19/us-kansascity-curfew-idUSTRE77I0DR20110819

Just a mess, that's for sure.

Oh, and rich kids. You can shoot them after 9pm too, if you can spot one.

You'd think a law against shooting people would be good enough.

I suspect "apparently random" is newspeak for "we have no idea who was shooting or who they were shooting at". It seems really unlikely that someone was rolling an icosahedron die to decide which way to shoot, or spinning in circles with their eyes closed.

The troublemakers who have inept parents will still go out and cause trouble.

Meanwhile a 16-17 high school kid will now get a citation for driving home from a night out with a few friends because he/she violated curfew.