Here is a letter BIKERS USA wrote to members of the NC Judiciary III committee prior to their discussions about the Street Gang Prevention Act on May 22, 2007. Members of the J-III committee RE: HB 274: Please give this bill an unfavorable recommendation. I would prefer that this bill be totally rewritten before going to the House. 1. HB 274 Does not provide an exclusionary definition of "criminal gang". Almost all organizations in North Carolina could be categorized as a criminal street gang according to the parameters of the definition, and criminal activities cited. 2. Criminal activity used to declare an organization as a street gang is overly inclusive and the crimes listed are not exclusive to members of criminal organizations. 3. HB 274 Interferes with the constitutionally protected right to freely associate without the threat of unreasonable search and seizure. 4. The majority of criminal street gang members targeted by the this bill, are exempt from prosecution due to the "juvenile exclusion" clause in HB 274. 5. The sentence enhancements identified in this bill are unreasonable mandates that leave no sentencing discretion to the courts. 6. HB 274 is unneccessarily expensive to the tax-payers of NC. If you only know the cursory Hollywood view of the biker subculture, you might not realize that there are many reasons for us to be proud of our heritage and patriotism. Many of us, including myself, are military veterans, have done our duty, and many still serve. Many of us, including myself, have served the public in an elected office. I have created a small embroidered patch which I hand out to special motorcycle riders whom I meet in my travels, if I believe they embrace the best values of old school biker way of life, such as brotherhood/sisterhood, knowing when courtesy and respect are due, knowing when to join together when someone needs a helping hand, and exercising our constitutional right to assemble and protest bad legislation which targets us. If a few of the people break the law, and have the patch, law enforcement could use the existence of this patch against every law-abiding citizen who simply wears the patch, even if they don't know each other, and are not in a club or organization with each other. This is not a gang, but the existence of the patch could get Barney Fife types of locals in a tizzy, causing us undue harassment. The same kind of thing can happen to several veteran motorcycle groups, Christian motorcycle groups, Harley Owners Group, the Blue Knights (a motorcycle organization composed of law enforcement officers), and many other non-criminal organizations. We fear there will be a double-standard when it is time for enforcement. Every now and then, we hear about 3 or 4 police officers within a Police Department getting into trouble. If I remember right, about a year ago, 3 or 4 officers in Robeson county or Lumberton were engaged in drugs sales. Within the past year, the Raleigh Police Department was investigating 3 officers for assault. The entire Lacrosse Team at Duke University could have been arrested as being in violation. I do not mean disrespect, because many of you are honest and good public servants, but we do hear about enough criminal activities happening within the state legislature, and even the state legislature might fit the criteria for pattern of criminal activities. The pattern could also be found in school boards, and city government. If the above organizations are going to be immune, I want equal immunity for motorcycle riders who wear the BIKERS USA patch.
 I understand that street gangs need to be dealt with, and we need to give law enforcement officers the assistance they need, but this is witch hunt tactics. This wreaks of Nazism, using scare tactics such as declaring state of crisis in order to justify it. It is bad legislation, and I urge all to oppose in favor of realistic solutions. I suggest that prior to doing this, you should evaluate the prison space available, and cut down on the number of early releases of actual criminals due to prison over-crowding. | 
