I have been around guns all my life,so has my son,,he's 15 years old,,he also plays a ton of violent games as well. The only reason I didn't and my son hasn't shot and killed anyone is because I have been in his life and like his mother,,my wife of 20 years have taught him right from wrong. My mom and dad did the same with me. But these coward baby daddies that run off because they are too jelly spined to help take care of the children they help create are 99.9% of the problem here. This is the CANCER that is killing off a whole generation of people.

It's simple. Young black men murder other young black men. It is a terrible cultural phenom that can only be corrected by good parenting. Unfortunately, bad parenting is another part of black culture. I know that sounds harsh, but generally speaking, it is the truth, when it comes to the mid south at least. The heart of the problem and the solution lies with women. Men, especially young men, act the way they do in order to attract women. Women egg this horrible behaviour on by having sex with thuggish, losers with no future. If women only have sex with educated, hardworking men, then 99% of men will aspire to be just that. It may be hard to believe, but life really is this simple.

Jefferson Tao is way off base. I grew up with rap music constantly playing (pretty much all we listened to) and played violent video games. Not to mention the violent action movies we loved watching. Yet none of my peers nor I were involved in any form of violence. That's because I grew up an environment with ethical role models to look up to. These low income Memphis kids are growing up with role models that are involved in crime and violence. Also, violence would not be accepted in the community I grew up. Apparently it is accepted in many low income Memphis neighborhoods.

Youth are constantly fed violence via video games and rap music, all facilitated by corporate greed. Them there's the ever-recalled chemical cocktails prescribed to kids by physicians cow towing to big pharma and deluded by the false notion that pills can substitute discipline. It's no wonder things are in a mess. Corporate greed and unregulated capitalism are the culprits.

Fed Up, it's racist for you to try to point out cold, hard facts.

There is only one issue causing the violence in Memphis. DENIAL. The City, the politicians, the schools….look at Philly, Detroit etc. What is in common here folks? Admit the problem, so it can be addressed realistically. Or, continue to scream racism and watch this get much worse….. A little accountability, where it really belongs, and real punishment instead of hand wringing may save these kids…..