The Violence of our Culture

A new associate of mine posted an article about the record-breaking gun violence in Chicago over Independence Day weekend, 2014. 50 deaths in a weekend. Horrendous! 
Just remember one tenet of government: laws don't prevent crime, they categorize action as crime and enable punishment. Even if gun ownership itself became a crime, criminals would still have and use guns as part of their business, and the absence of civil ownership as a deterrent may lead to emboldening their crime (i.e., if a criminal knows only law enforcement is armed, then with an illegal weapon, that criminal could proceed unabated without fear of retaliation, kind of like if N. Korea was the only country in the world with a nuclear arsenal). This bloodshed is indeed mental, but it's more a statement about the kind of people who exist in Chicago, a statement about our culture. 
 In my view on things, criminal law doesn't improve culture, it restricts liberty. Changing culture is more important than changing laws. So how do you change culture? Connectedness, trust, respect, courtesy, compassion. How do you imbue that upon the violent masses of Chicago, gun-toting or otherwise?
What occurs here is a culture, a breeding cycle between monsters and victims. Untreated, the victims turn their hurt outward and become monstrous, themselves. Sure, they justify, but this mad cadence of actions continues. As most often is the case, it is an element of behaviour that starts in families. 
To address the cause of monstrous action and broken hearts is far and above the duty of civil entities, but it is indeed the responsibility of those among us who deign the title of citizens. Therefore, we must love those monstrous individuals, show them compassion, but guide them to a point of health. Relegating our duty as a community to the officers of the peace, the appointed governors, that is turning away from our dysfunction as a people. When this city or this nation or this race can unite and show the heart few are bold enough to wear, then indeed our problems are over. Until then, more "obvious" laws and more law enforcement is a symptom of the loveless anathema of our earthy existence, on the road to an inhuman dystopia of impulse, selfishness, and cold, crowded isolation.