Columbia, SC — In his Sunday column, “Wanted: A mediator,” associate editor Warren Bolton misidentifies the cause of gangs and gang violence. The real problem is poor, uneducated, often unemployed, single women or couples who have children they can’t afford and who don’t provide the moral guidance to ensure that their children become productive, law-abiding members of society.

The solution is for the government to stop subsidizing these children’s procreation. fertile women on public assistance (food stamps, WIC, public housing, etc.) should be required to be on long-term birth control.

Larry Knight

Columbia