Clarify your terms. Gun homicide, on a per capita basis, is a (poor) black problem. Gun suicide, on a per capita basis by ratio, is a (poor) white problem.

Gun “violence” and gun “death” are terms used to blend these two very different problems into the same problem to obscure their very different causes.

Explaining the causes of the gun homicide problem in the poor black community is a herculean task that I’m quite honestly not qualified to undertake. Lately I think it’s probably related to the rise of an “honor culture” in the community, that’s tied to a distrust in the authority’s ability to resolve disputes. Part of that certainly flows from the drug war, and part of it certainly flows from a history of racist law enforcement. I wouldn’t trust the cops if I was black, and living in Atlanta I know and work with many black folks who harbor some level of distrust. When honor cultures arise, historically speaking, they resolve their disagreements with duels. I suspect this is part of what’s going on there, but I haven’t looked into it enough to be sure. I don’t want to write about that until I have a better personal sense of it. There’s a book on my list, “The Ghetto Side,” which supposedly speaks about that. I also have some friends I’d want to bounce ideas off of before stepping into that ring.