The mass murder of children last week in Texas will haunt us for a while. America does have a violence problem, and every fair-minded person knows it. We live in a rather chaotic society where standards of civility are dropping to dangerous levels. Barbarians have breached the gate. And there are some very vivid reasons why.

First, parenting, about 40 percent of children in the United States are now born out of wedlock. Many are abandoned by their fathers and raised in poverty by troubled mothers. The government can do little but remove children from dangerous homes. Often, the child finds no relief in foster care, and the derelict parents avoid any kind of legal sanction. Abused and neglected children can turn into violent monsters.

Second, crime and no punishment. The justice system has collapsed in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. It's now easy to commit violence because punishment is scant. Heavily armed drug gangs run wild, murdering at will. Banning weapons will not stop these criminals as they don't purchase legal guns anyway. With more than 300 million firearms in circulation, the black market gun trade will thrive if legal firearms are banished. The solution is to federalize all gun crimes, including illegal possession, and harshly punish offenders. But Congress will not do it. No explanation is ever given.

Finally, the political parties. Liberal Democrats seek to ban almost all firearms. Conservative Republicans want the legal option to arm themselves against criminals and, possibly, an out-of-control future federal system. There will be no compromise here.

Now to a partial solution. States should individually regulate guns. That means if ARs are deemed a public safety menace in Philadelphia, they can be banned within the city limits. But in very rural Wyoming, citizens might approve of those guns. The Second Amendment allows Americans to use firearms for protection. But bazookas are illegal. Public safety must be defined by individual states, not the feds.

Finally, "Red Flag" laws are desperately needed. Nineteen states currently have them. Law enforcement must be able to act if an unstable person is issuing violent threats. Those situations should be aggressively investigated, with the legal authority to confiscate weapons from miscreants. Armed loons threaten every one of us.

The truth is we can do something about gun violence in this country. But not with phony ideology and Constitutional violations. We need discipline and compromise.

Obviously, it's not going to be easy.

Back in the anchor chair Tuesday for the No Spin News.