In the big Texas metropolitan areas, they are a huge problem, but tend to be a problem only for those who live in the neighborhoods they inhabit. About fifteen years ago, in Houston they were a HUGE problem everywhere. Then a guy named Bob Lanier came along, he ran for mayor and did an honest thing, he said if elected he was going to raise taxes, and the higher taxes would be used for one thing: hire more cops. Lots of cops. Gang intolerent cops. He won, they hired thousands more police, and then Harris County followed suit, hiring more sheriffs and constables as well, and they all went to work, sending anyone who looked at someone with a gang-glint in their eye to jail. It's been a lot better ever since, at least in Houston, but in the cities where they have not gone the extra mile on hiring cops, San Antonio most notably, gangs are making people's lives miserable, so there, they just shoot them.