Editorial: Gun violence requires serious solutions

With gun violence escalating, this nation should be engaged in a serious discussion of how the proliferation of guns affect everyday life for millions of Americans. The constant shootings are taking the lives of innocent victims, especially among blacks, and feeding a cycle of rage and misery in the poorest and toughest neighborhoods. Democrat Hillary Clinton should contrast her responsible policy on guns with the falsehoods and fear-mongering peddled by Republican nominee Donald Trump.

The New York Times, drawing on at least 358 armed encounters last year in which four or more people were killed or injured, described a rash of violence that erupts so regularly "it is rendered almost invisible." Unlike the high-profile mass murders in California, Oregon and South Carolina, the shootings highlighted by the Times provoked no national outrage, taking place at family reunions, dances, barbecues, basketball games and other backdrops of everyday American life.

The 358 encounters left 462 dead and 1,330 injured. Only a handful were the sort of high-profile mass shootings that make the national news. The rest often began as banal exchanges that spiraled into the outbreak of violence — a bump in a restroom, a taunt online, blaring the wrong music in a parking lot. One-third of the shootings were drive-by or gang-related, the same amount as those stemming from petty arguments. Two-thirds of the shootings occurred outdoors, killing or injuring more than 100 bystanders. Even worse, the police have made no arrests or have no suspects in nearly half the cases. At least 160 assailants responsible for 102 murders and 635 injuries last year were still walking the streets — players in the never-ending cycle of tit-for-tat recrimination.

Blacks are six times as likely as whites both to be victims and offenders, the Times found. And most shootings were in poorer neighborhoods; 86 percent took place in areas where the poverty rate was higher than the national average. In this sense, the violence compounded the misery of poverty and the barrier of race. Surveys show black Americans are more fearful than whites of becoming victims, and they feel less safe in their neighborhoods. On top of that, black families and police say, the peer pressure of the "no-snitch" culture in black neighborhoods results in many assailants going untouched.

The interplay of guns, poverty, race, the mistrust of the police and wayward pride is a deeply layered problem, and reducing the violence calls for a serious approach. Trump took the opposite route in accepting the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, declaring that Clinton "wants to take away your guns" and to let violent criminals out of jail. In keeping with the ugly tone of his campaign, Trump also directed his fear mongering to women, saying that Clinton's policies would not allow women the right to defend themselves.

Clinton supports stronger background checks, an assault weapons ban and measures to keep weapons from straw buyers and the mentally ill. But Clinton is not out to destroy the Second Amendment. Trump supported some of these restrictions prior to becoming a candidate. Now he's calling for an end to gun-free zones in the schools. It's the equivalent of throwing gas on a fire already taking place in America's most crowded cities.

The answers to gun violence are to be found at every level, from reasonable restrictions by the federal government to new criminal justice, employment and housing strategies by states and communities. Citizens also need to step up to break the cycle of reprisal and the code of silence on the street that makes it difficult for law enforcement to do its job. But this all begins with a seriousness and tone from the nation's elected leaders. The pain these families and communities suffer is hardly invisible.