> Is gangs shooting each other, (usually family) homicides and school shootings not big enough problems? They are symptoms. People don't join gangs or shoot u

> Is gangs shooting each other, (usually family) homicides and school shootings not big enough problems? They are symptoms. People don't join gangs or shoot up schools for the hell of it. They do those things because either their material conditions drove them to that point or they failed to receive the mental help they needed before it was too late (respectively). > Because we have plenty of countries with similar social problems, yet they have much much lower deaths per capita The ones with lower deaths per capita also typically have lower degrees/magnitudes of said social problems. The correlation is with socioeconomic stability and equality, not with any particular tool. That is: > it is safe to conclude that guns are a problem No, that ain't a safe conclusion, and does not logically follow. If that was a safe conclusion, then countries like South Africa - with far stricter gun laws and far fewer guns per person - would have lower homicide rates, and that is rather evidently not the case.