Want to reduce horrible gun crimes? Reduce inequality.

Yes, Elliot Rodger was privileged. But many perpetrators of gun crimes aren't.

Gun sales
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File))

The aftermath of last weekend's terrible Isla Vista murders has focused not on background checks, assault weapons bans, or other gun control measures often put forth in the wake of shooting crimes. Instead, the focus has been on, well, men.

When it comes to horrible mass killings in America, the assailant is almost always male. Many see that gender reality as crucial to understanding gun violence in America. The New Statesman's Laurie Penny argues that "if you think for one second, for one solitary second, that demanding tolerance for men as a group, that dismissing the reality of violence against women because not all men kill, not all men rape, if you think that's more important than demanding justice for those who have been brutalized and murdered by those not all men, then you are part of the problem."

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Elizabeth Stoker writes about Christianity, ethics, and policy for Salon, The Atlantic, and The Week. She is a graduate of Brandeis University, a Marshall Scholar, and a current Cambridge University divinity student. In her spare time, Elizabeth enjoys working in the garden and catching up on news of the temporal world.