Gangsters, who regard going to jail as an "occupational hazard", will have their assets seized, Home Office Minister Caroline Flint has promised.
She was speaking to the leaders of anti gun-crime projects based in Aston and Handsworth, Birmingham.
Grass-roots projects in inner-city Birmingham have been working together after the New Year shootings in Aston two years ago, when Letisha Shakespeare, aged 17, and Charlene Ellis, aged 18, were murdered.
An umbrella group, the North West Birmingham Development Agency, was set up by Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood (Lab). It is supported by the Learning and Skills Council and charity The Scarman Trust.
Members of the agency travelled to London, along with some of the young people it has worked with, for a meeting in a House of Commons committee room to review progress so far.
Projects aimed mainly at black or Asian young people have run mentoring services, residential events, and even provided anger-management courses, to try to steer youngsters away from guns, drugs and gangs. They have also provided lessons on African and Asian history and culture.
Ms Flint said the Government would support the agency to help turn "good intentions" into reality.
"The people committing crimes in our communities don't just face a possible prison sentence. We are also looking at taking that money off them and putting it back into the community.
