My "family" of roommates pays $1625 for a 1,408 ft2 3-br (from the 1880s) in Goose Hollow, one of the residential neighborhoods in downtown Portland. Gas can runs as high as ~150/mo in the winter, but that's not a bad deal for being able to:
- chain bikes to the front porch without fear of theft (indefinitely).
- leave our back door unlocked every day, and the front door most as well.
- walk to some of the best coffee shops in the best coffee town in America (Public Domain, for instance).
- walk to Powell's.
- walk to network with ANY tech company in the downtown area.
- eat amazing food for at most (95th percentile) 20 bucks/entree.
- order fancy cocktails for ~9/ea.
- order amazing beers for 4.50/pt. (max).
- meet brilliant people (MBar's a good place to start).
- breathe clean air.
- not have to live in samey-samey suburban hell.
- surround yourself with nature, wander through the nation's largest in-city park and visit natural wonders like the Columbia Gorge and Mt. Hood.
The benefits are not completely enumerable online. Build your dream life here!
You're missing the third school of thought: provide mental health services.
It distresses me that our cultural fix-it focus is on tools and not causes: neither arming the nation nor banning firearms will address fundamental problems of mental health.
Even though you acknowledge that "...a deranged person will always find a means to carry out their ill will...", you're not addressing the derangement. Let's start there. Social services are expensive. Not having them can be...more expensive.