Want to Reduce Gun Violence? Heres how in four easy steps...

From Wikipedia

Want to Stop Gun Violence?  Heres how in four easy steps...

Ok, so I lied, its not so easy.  All of these are difficult, and they wont stop all gun violence.  That can't even be done reliably in prison. These will reduce a lot of the social issues though that feed into violence.

1.  Address our unemployment, standardize and establish healthcare for all, and establish a living wage.

Wow, that shocked a lot of people.  Yep, its forward thinking, and progressive, sorry I do that sometimes.  

How would it work?  Well, if a family can live off what they make, they're much less inclined to turn to crime.  With parents who can work for a living wage, the can afford to be home more to actually raise their children.  Reducing the impact of gangs and crime on their families.  Much of this is based on and around a family dynamic and allowing them to separate themselves from the daily struggle to survive, and allow them to actually thrive and improve the lives of the next generation.  Something something American Dream?!

Reference:  Geography of Gun Deaths in America
Reference:  Interactive Map of Poverty in America

Wow, pretty close eh?

2.  Build families and neighborhoods again.  Get to know those around your home in your community.  Community action helps to prevent crime, it builds a sense of self and pride along with togetherness.  Violence builds off hate and isolation, fight it with community and inclusion.

3.  Don't accept violent behavior in your families and communities.  Build a community where violence is abhorrent.  Violence is reported, and violence is stopped.  No snitches is a great way to destroy everything above.Community based policing is important here.  Not guys rolling around in MRAPs with heavy body armor, and riot gear who are willing and eager to taze Gramma or little Suzy at the first sign of "resistance".  Black lives matter?  Yes.  Yes they do.  Gun violence isn't a black problem though, its an everyone problem.  All lives matter, and I don't say that to take away from Black lives matter, its the truth as well.  Police violence is a problem as well and while even more complicated in some cases, should be as abhorrent as any other violence.

4.  End our stupid War on Drugs.
Really, can we do this yet?  Talk about building poverty and destroying communities and families.  Additionally this is a major source of revenue for your criminal gangs.  Tax it, monitor it, standardize it, and stop destroying lives over it.  Use the money to build real rehab centers, put people to work again and give them a way to turn their lives around rather than just shove them off the urban map into the no mans land you just don't go to after dark. Once this is legal an amazing thing happens, if someone steals drugs from you, you can send the police after them rather than try to shoot them!  Since its no longer illegal the profit margins go to pot and its just not worth it anymore.  Drug crime goes away with the movement of a pen, and the subsidiary crime (robbery, murder etc) that comes along with it fades away as fast.