by Bob Herbert

About the author: Bob Herbert is a syndicated columnist for the New York Times and a former NBC News reporter.

Marisa Vural, a 16-year-old high school student, told the police commissioner in 1996 that it is easier in many New York neighborhoods for a child to get a gun than a library card.

The comment was not meant as an attack on the [former] commissioner, William Bratton, who has done a remarkable job combating crime in the past couple of years. It was an expression of the frustration of young people who have to cope with the fear of violent crime, and who do not have nearly enough organized, constructive activities to absorb their energies, enrich their lives and keep them out of trouble.

Violence Is Too Easy

Ms. Vural and Bratton were participants in...