In the short narrative by Jamira Burley in The Atlantic, named "Band-Aids Over Bullet Wounds", she shows exactly how vastly misunderstood violence is, and how the answer to it isn't black and white. It isn’t to just to take away guns, or to have more guns, or any other simple answer that would cure everything for every situation. That’s because this issue is a rainbow of problems that guns and violence are just an outlet for.

Jamira’s family is a perfect example of this: nearly all of her family has been incarcerated at least once, and her father is serving life in prison for murder. Their jail time is nearly all from violent crimes, and can’t be solved with less guns or stricter police, or something typically thought of as a solution for violence, because they didn’t commit the crime because of hatred, but tradition. Amira’s family grew up with older people, and elders, committing violent crimes as a solution to a problem, like someone stealing money or starting a wide-spread rumor. It’s a classic case of “Monkey see, monkey do.” Amira’s brother’s were never taught to talk things out, or avoid conflict, but to instead turn to violence as a solution. They didn’t stab or murder someone because they were bloodthirsty and looking to start trouble as these situations are typically thought of, but because nobody else taught them different. There was never an option to talk instead of pulling a trigger, or to reform bonds instead of jumping someone; there was only violence.

Until America starts to see violence as a matter of mental misunderstanding instead of a physical hatred, violent crimes are only going to get worse. If we don’t teach our children that there is an option to not pull the trigger, then they’re going to continue to see the gun as a wide-spread solution for problems. If America just brushes violence off as something that needs to be solved with more guns, again, the next generation is going to learn to use the trigger instead of their words. Violence can’t be fully removed from society, but we can teach that there’s other options and minimize casualties and violent crimes, and it all starts with reforming how we see violence as a whole.