This paper documents the ways different sections of Toronto's black community construct the problem of gun violence commonly associated with young black males in the city. Recognising that social policies are often products of contestations among different claims makers trying to dominate the definition of particular social problems and the policy initiatives for their control, the paper documents the marginalized epistemologies of members of the city's black community as "knowers located in actual lived situations". Following Smith's (Writing the social: Critique, theory, and investigations, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1999, p. 5) "sociology for people" method of inquiry, it examines the prism of meaning within which black community leaders interpret the phenomenon of gun violence taking place among mostly black youths in Toronto.