Just for the record, gang violence is not the main cause of gun homicide.

[DanTex]

Cross-posted from GD. The "it's just gang versus gang" talking point is making the rounds again, so it's good to have the facts clear.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024572454

About 12% of all homicides in the US are gang related. Since about 2/3 of all homicides are gun homicides, that means that, at most, around 18% of all gun homicides are gang-related. In other words, even if we got rid of all gang violence in the US, our homicide rate would still be much higher than any other first-world nation. It's the guns, not the gangs.

The total number of gang homicides reported by respondents in the NYGS sample averaged more than 1,900 annually from 2007 to 2011. During the same time period, the FBI estimated, on average, more than 15,500 homicides across the United States (www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-1). These estimates suggest that gang-related homicides typically accounted for around 12 percent of all homicides annually.

https://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Survey-Analysis/Measuring-the-Extent-of-Gang-Problems