Yes, the gun crime in Moss Side became an issue shortly after I moved there. It's reputation was indeed bad but it was cheap, and we didn't move out due to the shootings, oh no. The house we were renting had been burgled 3 times the year before we moved in though. It was the first time I have lived in a house with a burglar alarm. I cycle-commuted through the area for a year and the biggest problem was feral dog packs. Funnily enough, when I got lost there and asked a local the way he wanted to know where I came from. I told him, Ipswich and he immediately asked if I knew a pub called the 'Blue Coat Boy', I did but said 'no' (it was a disreputable place said be a drug dealers haunt). Shortly after it was set on fire in an arson attack and didn't re-open. I think 'no' must have been the right answer.
