Only Young Men Can Stop Gun Violence — NewsWorks
Only young men can stop gun violence
January 13, 2013
By Solomon Jones
Every American should be outraged, but especially here in Philadelphia. Our city’s homicide rate is the worst among our country’s largest cities. According to CNN, more than 80 percent of Philadelphia’s homicides are committed with a firearm. But no one is talking about the fact that the victims and perpetrators are young men; boys who understand that their lives could end at any moment; that their deaths won’t result in media coverage; that their families and few others will grieve.
We don’t quite know what to say to them, so we shake our heads in disappointment. But while we cluck our tongues at their fatalism, our sons are dying daily.
I, for one, am tired of the endless debate about gun violence. I’m tired of liberals clamoring for more restrictive gun laws. Laws alone will not solve the problem. I’m tired of the silly conservative argument that arming teachers makes schools safer. Armed teachers have no place in classrooms. I’m tired of the NRA putting profits before people, and tired of politicians retreating to their ideological corners. Our children’s lives are at stake.
We have to talk to our young men. We have to find out why they’re so willing to let violence destroy not just their own lives, but the lives of everyone around them. We have to find out why they’re so sure that they won’t live past 21. We have to learn why they can’t control their impulses. We can’t do so by just studying them. We must do so by talking to them.
We have no other choice.
I can’t say it any better than Mr. Jones.
We are losing our young men.