MORE Trouble at Mayfair, NO Solutions

They just keep coming.

Another day, another tale of violence and disorder at Mayfair Mall.

Wauwatosa -- A woman said she and her teenage daughter were chased, terrorized and rammed head-on inside their minivan at the Mayfair Mall parking lot Sunday afternoon by a man who they believed was angry about their reaching an open parking spot before he did.

Kim Stanton-McBride provided this account of the incident, the third recent problem involving the popular shopping center.

Stanton-McBride said she drove to the mall with her daughter, who was looking for a dress for a school dance.

After she had turned down a parking aisle near The Cheesecake Factory, where she had spotted an open spot, a man driving a car that had pulled into the aisle behind her started beeping his horn and became upset, she said.

"I was going to take the spot, but I decided not to," she said.

Although she passed by the spot, the man's vehicle kept tailing her minivan, she said.

"I was scared, and I was like, 'Why is he following me?' " Stanton-McBride said.

She felt some relief when the man's car finally disappeared. "Next thing you know, he comes down the aisle driving the wrong way. . . . He pulled up, and he slammed into our car," she said.

Next, the man got out of his car and began kicking a van door, screaming profanities and pounding on the windows while his passenger stood nearby, she said.

Stanton-McBride tried fleeing in reverse. Eventually, she said, the men got back in the car and fled. She spotted a mall security guard, who called Wauwatosa police. Police caught up with the men soon afterward, and later, police told her that they had discovered a gun in their car.

The Milwaukee area is a mess, and there are no indications that things are improving.

In his State of the City address this morning, Mayor Tom Barrett focused on guns as a way to control the violence.

Barrett pointed to the city’s crime problem and noted that he has increased the police budget by the largest amount in a decade, adding 50 police officers and a community service officer program that brings the force up to its highest strength since 2000. Barrett said the city has also cracked down on curfews and cruising and is installing cameras in high-crime areas of the city.

Barrett said he intends to add 50 additional police this year and will increase cooperation with community and faith-based groups to help prevent crime.

"We must focus on prevention; law enforcement alone will not solve our problems," Barrett said. Barrett said the city must look beyond the property tax to fund police, warning that increased public safety demands could lead to cuts in other essential services and called upon the federal government for assistance. "The federal government needs to focus on hometown security," Barrett said.

Barrett also called upon the state Legislature to pass “responsible” gun legislation that would require background checks for all handgun purchases and prohibit all sales of handguns to those under 21 years old.

"This is not about 2nd Amendment rights. This is not about guns being used for hunting,” Barrett said. “This is about saving young lives and futures in Milwaukee.”

“We have to get the illegal guns and the criminals who use them off of our streets.

And would gun legislation have prevented that nutjob from lashing out and terrorizing the woman at Mayfair?

Barrett is wrong.

The violence plaguing Milwaukee won't be eliminated by "responsible" gun legislation.

Barrett is passing the buck. It's always easier to accuse someone else.

He seems to be saying that a solution to the Milwaukee area's problems lies with the State Legislature.

"If only we could get some gun laws to solve our problems."

I'm so sick of hearing Barrett blame guns.

What you have in Milwaukee is a bunch of thugs terrorizing the city and the metro area. They have a complete disregard for the law and an utter disrespect for life.

Let's be honest. It's too late to "prevent" this generation of thugs.

There's no going back. The entitlement culture created monsters. Barrett needs to deal with them. They aren't going anywhere.

And no one should be fooled by the promise of an employment program for Milwaukee teens.

Summer youth employment programs in the city of Milwaukee are nothing new. They've been around in some form for decades.

It's one thing to provide opportunity. It's quite another thing to seize it.

Personal responsibility, staying in school, and working hard for a brighter future is where the promise lies.

What Milwaukee needs is leadership.

Community leaders need to stress decency and teach what's not being taught in homes and schools.