Interesting read, but I didn't make it all the way to the end. I like detail, nuance and so on, but this ran a little long... Here are a few thoughts, in no particular order from someone who often disagrees with you, but also believes you are perhaps the fairest writer on many topics, especially race/racism in America.

Guns aren't going away in this country, ever. Even if magically we could do that, the new 3D printing technology and ghost guns make it unlikely that we are ever going to be done with gun violence through laws.

Laws prohibiting stuff rarely work. Think prohibition, "war on drugs", etc. A lot of lives were destroyed by do-gooders, well-intentioned or not, determined to remake society in their image. It didn't work, and both crusades arguably aggravated the original "problem".

I grew up in rural NW NJ., Most houses had a shotgun or rifle. I lived in that town until I was 18. There were two incidences of gun violence in the town (25k population) during my youth: a murder/suicide of husband/wife and an incredibly stupid homeowner target shooting off his deck in a lake community who struck and killed a neighbor across the lake. Even though guns were readily available, it was absolutely unthinkable that they would ever be used to settle disputes, attack teachers you didn't like, and so on. We had both parents and police, and it worked just fine.

At 18, I joined the Marines, and spent 4 years in the infantry. Our government issued weapons were always kept in the armory, but many of us had personal handguns which we kept in the squad bays, which was illegal but common. Again, there was never, ever a single instance of even a threat of violence from guns in my unit. We fought with each other, and there were broken bones at times, and we fought with civilians off base, but it was completely unthinkable , not something that would ever even be discussed over large quantities of alcohol, to ever settle disputes with guns. We were young, crazy, testosterone driven men, but some things were simply off limits, by nature, by training, and by fear of consequences.

While stationed in NC, I had a girlfriend who was being relentlessly bullied by an ex boyfriend, a known drug dealer whose father was a prominent lawyer and very good friends with the local judiciary. The son was untouchable legally, and bullied and threatened anyone in his life who "disrespected" him in any way, especially women who had the temerity to leave his violent companionship. He would follow my girlfriend during the day and terrorize her wherever she went. One day I took her too a gun store, bought her a small handgun, gave her the basic lessons on loading, aiming and fire, and told her to kill him the next time he came to her house. The next time he came pounding on her door, she fired through the door, ddi not kill him, and he stayed away for a while. When he started following her car again, her brother followed his, and blew the back windshield out of the ex-boyfriend's car with a shotgun. That was the last she ever heard from him. She would most likely be dead today were the gun laws (and prosecutorial zeal) of today in force in NC in the 80s.

I live in Detroit. Virtually everyone owns, and carries a gun, almost always handguns. Some are legal, many are not. Some are legally acquired guns carried concealed without a permit. There are hundreds of killings per year here, almost all from driveby shootings or turf disputes among gangs or something as simple as a fender-bender n the Home Depot parking lot. It is completely tolerated, and accepted. There is no protest here, unless the shootings are done by the police, in which case every suburban activist dresses ups in BLM gear to descend on the City to (selectively) denounce gun violence. The amount of children shot in this city is out of control, and you will never, ever hear about it on the news, because it isn't news.

So what to do?

I am firmly on the side of responsible gun ownership, with the emphasis on responsible. I would, and do support some sort of mandatory training and (short) waiting period before purchasing guns. Obviously, this would only help matter out in instances where the guns were being purchased legally. Here in Detroit , such restrictions wouldn't have even a marginal effect, since the overwhelming percentage of gun crimes are being committed by felons who aren't supposed to be anywhere near firearms to begin with .

The spate of suburban teenage/young adult male mass shootings is a new phenomenon in my life. it seems to coincide with the rash of new drugs, prescription and others, that have flooded our country, whether under the guise of "anti-depressants" or other pretenses. Most of the shooters seem to have been prescribed, at some point , drugs with a frightening list of potential "side effects". I know coincidence doesn't prove causality, but there is something to look at here. This sort of shooting simple didn't exist when I grew up, and guns were, and are, readily available.

We need, desperately, the PARENTS of this country to parent, and to raise responsible, compassionate, and discerning children. We need the parents back. If we don t parent, we will need to police ever more, and that is no substitute. We, as a culture, need to go back to what worked, what worked, imperfectly, but much better than what we have in 2022. It isn't difficult. It has nothing to do with race or poverty or anything else but a spectacular decline in personal responsibility, and a lack of appreciation for what we do have, which has been replaced with a unrelenting drumbeat of complaints, victimization and overall whining about what is wrong.

Will some laws restricting gun ownership, in some instances, reduce some typos of crimes? I would guess yes, but we aren't going to legislate our way out of this problem. We need responsible, mature, adult citizens and strong neighborhoods and communities to collectively address the problem of gun violence, and so many other problems, not more laws.