Urban liberal solutions to gun violence remind me of the way we have dealt with the meth epidemic among working and poor whites, an epidemic which is eating the core out of the heartland working class. Meth is the poor white man’s crack cocaine. Instead of addressing the social dynamics of hopelessness that drive the meth epidemic out here among working class whites, laws were passed to remove over the counter cold medicines. Sure, it was an appropriate move. But mostly it has been moving production of meth to “superlabs” in Mexico, India and good ole China. (Ah, globalism!)
Cutting supply can’t and won’t cut demand. Prohibition showed us that. The market will always find a way to supply a need. Odd isn’t it, that a capitalist society can’t figure that out when it comes to black market goods?
If you want to stop drug addiction, then focus on why people become addicts and how to get them off drugs. If they see a chance for a better life, and have a helping hand available when they need it most, then chances are good they’ll be able to kick drugs and get on with their new life.
But that probably doesn’t happen much in Appalachia. And it needs to. The class bias that both ignores and punishes urban people of color does the same to poor rural whites too.