I know this is a big topic on this sub and I'm sorry if it seems like beating a dead horse, but I highly encourage everyone to read this. It's a wealth of information and insights I've never known before.

Some things from the article:

Chicago's violence is overwhelmingly centred in just five out of 22 police districts on the sprawling city's west and south sides, largely home to lower-income African Americans and Latinos.

"Three or four guys form a clique and within a one-block radius, they fight each other even over half a block," said Mr McFowler, himself a reformed criminal. He founded a gang but spent 27 years in jail for killing a man in a gunfight over a turf and drugs dispute. After his release in 2011, Mr McFowler and a team of other former gang leaders, who had also done time, joined an Austin non-governmental organisation, Build, to reach out and counsel youth to keep them off the streets and out of gang activity.

The easy availability of guns is part of the problem. For about US$150 (S$213), you can buy a gun on the street

In fact, 80 per cent of victims last year had prior criminal histories and had been identified by the department as victims or suspects in gun violence.