they so gangsta

Okay, today's big update comes to us from South Dakota. Nobody ever seems to care about South Dakota. It's like we only focus on the drug addict celebrities in New York and California. So it is nice to hear something new.
Anyways, there is a "major" issue in South Dakota involving gang branding. Apparently, gang members are branding themselves with cigarette lighters, heated knives, and are also using other means which will not be released. Probably because some other teens will go looking to brand themselves in new ways. You know, cuz using a cattle prod just isn't very "hip".
Catch this, the state legislators want to make it illegal if it involves minors. They could care less about the twenty something year olds that are branding themselves with pocket knives.
The State Judiciary Committee approved a bill recently. It threatens a penalty of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine for branding minors. So....this isn't really about the gangs. It's only really about the children. Because we want them to wait until they are at least 21 to use knives and cigarette lighters on their bodies.
Oh, but if you are a repeat offender, you can face four years in prison and a $4,000 fine. So don't just think that you will get to spend more time with your homies on the chain gang. Because you will go from jail to prison. Ooooooooooh. That's straight up gangsta.
Now you may be wondering why gang members would use knives....right? I thought that they used tattoos? They did. But that costs money. And why spend money to get ink permanently painted on your flesh when you could just cut and slice your flesh? And branding with knives has become more popular purely because gangs can do it themselves. They should have a special on that on the DIY or Discovery channel.