Gun control activists continually claim that guns are the problem, that if we magically made all the guns go away, life would be an absolute Utopia. Abusive husbands would only use harsh language, stalkers would never attack innocent women, rapists would say “please” and “thank you”, dogs and cats would live together in harmony, and so on.

We know that’s not even close to the reality. Further, a report at The Trace leads one to think that, on some level, they have to know this.

The most comprehensive study yet of a popular violence-prevention group’s New York City program has found it effective in reducing gun crime and defusing situations that can lead to shootings in two neighborhoods where it is in force.

Cure Violence, a national, public health-based program that employs “credible messengers” like former gang members and ex convicts from within the community to help defuse violent situations before they start, was responsible for statistically significant drops in the number of shooting victims and gunshot hospitalizations in areas of East New York, Brooklyn, and the South Bronx, according to a new study by researchers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

The study’s review of shootings and gun injuries provides “strong evidence” that Cure Violence protects public safety, the study says.

In the section of East New York served by the program, gun injury rates were cut in half over the three years the program was studied, compared to a 5 percent drop in a neighboring community with similar characteristics. The area of the South Bronx served by Cure Violence experienced “strong and significant” declines in gun injuries (down 37 percent) and shootings (down 63 percent), the study says. That compares to 29 percent and 17 percent reductions, respectively, in East Harlem.

Researchers also found that with Cure Violence in place, young men were less likely to respond to a potential social conflict — say, someone stepping on a foot — by becoming violent.

This is New York City, which boasts some of the toughest gun control laws in the country. Yet, if gun control works so well, then why is something like Cure Violence needed? Wouldn’t the criminals be unable to get their grubby little paws on guns?

Or, did someone figure out that criminals don’t obey laws and figured they should do something different?

Hmmmmm.

Seriously, I applaud the folks behind Cure Violence for looking to focus on the word “violence” in gun violence and not the gun. This is a much more effective approach over the long haul, since removing the gun only shifts the violence to other means. Look at England and their crackdown on knives, for crying out loud. All they did was change the weapon of choice to one that favors stronger, more aggressive people. You know, the kind of folks who make great criminals.

By focusing on violence, you take care of the issue at the root. You really make the community safer, rather than just slapping a veneer of safety over the same old problems.

No one wants to see the innocent hurt with firearms. No one wants to see them hurt with anything.

The only way to prevent that from happening, however, is to prevent violence and not the tools violent people use. Especially when the tools they use are the same tools that allow smaller, weaker people to defend themselves.