Mass shootings get most of the attention in the headlines, but the majority of America’s 14,000 gun homicides every year come from smaller-scale, everyday urban gun violence, Vox reports.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), a presidential candidate, is now pushing to do something about that urban violence. On Wednesday, Booker and Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) introduced the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, which would dedicate $90 million a year over 10 years to US cities to tackle urban gun violence. The funds could go to hospital-based intervention programs that try to help gunshot victims before they retaliate against their shooters or are victimized again, street “interrupters” and other outreach workers who intervene in local conflicts to prevent violence from spreading, and strategies that target, with police and other social services, the small segments of the population responsible for most urban violence.