despite being exponentially more violent than prison gangs or street gangs most bikers aren't murderous drug running kingpins...,

DallasMorningNews |  Harold Pollack is co-director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab and an expert on gangs and guns. Just as important, he lives in a city where urban violence is so entrenched that Mayor Rahm Emanuel began his second term Monday with a speech warning that the city may lose an entire generation of children to gang violence.

So how would Pollack compare outlaw motorcycle gangs, like those that got into a gun battle Sunday in Waco, with urban street gangs, such as those that commit terror in Chicago? Here’s his take, courtesy of The Marshall Project:

#1 The number of perps involved in the Waco shootout – not to mention the nine deaths – far exceeds the typical urban gang-related shooting.  “I have never encountered a gang incident in Chicago remotely like this.”

#2 Urban gangs and their criminal organizations rarely get into gun battles with police.

#3 Outlaw biker gangs are rarely found in big media centers. Given our expectations regarding race and geographic location of people who perpetrate crime, biker gangs are perceived as more “curiosity” than threat. That must change.

#4 100 weapons at one crime scene is absolutely remarkable.

#5 Biker gangs have far-flung connections, particularly in South and Central America.

Money quote: “If these biker gang members were non-white, I think this would cause a national freakout.”

My take: Outlaw biker gangs are homegrown terrorists. That doesn’t mean everyone who walked into that Twin Peaks Sunday is an outlaw or a homegrown terrorist. But those who weren’t should be charged with stupidity for associating with bikers who clearly are.