One wonders why murder has become such a pervasive phenomenon in American society. It seems apparent that an obsession with death is an integral part of our culture. One might posit that as a western society (although the form and nature of our society might be changing) we are naturally aggressive. When one goes back to our wild west beginnings, our ruthless decimation of the original Americans, our move westward with the conviction of our “manifest destiny,” our willingness to stomach the agonies of slavery, it seems that we have long been attempting to integrate death into our living culture.
Aside from any historical cultural proclivities, let me point out the role of Hollywood in this. Many years ago I noticed a popular theme in Hollywood movies. In the first scene of the movie, the wife or the beloved of the hero is murdered. The rest of the movie is a series of revenge scenes in which some perp or someone remotely related to the perpetrator(s) is killed. The final scene is the culminating destruction of perhaps an entire city or some large assemblage of the bad guys who are utterly demolished in a flaming, glorious achievement of revenge. Hollywood was at the time apparently mesmerized by death and murder; it has since grown more sophisticated in its cinematographic technologies of human destruction
One thing the objective observer must agree with is that, for Hollywood, murder is a vital, powerful, essential, sometimes even beautiful phenomenon with more than a biological inevitability. It is glorified in movies, games, literature, and especially, movies. As an economist, I can confidently suggest that where there is a demand for just about anything, that demand will be supplied. Extensive demands result in large supplies.
Democrats are fond of assuming that guns kill people, but an unmanned gun usually does precious little damage. People are murderers, and rarely do guns even go on trial. When you expect to stop murders, it might be supposed by one who has never thought about the problem, or perhaps any problem, that one need merely outlaw guns. Were there no guns, nobody would get shot. I agree. The problem is that there are guns and I hope I need not elaborate on the problem that if you ask the crooks to give up guns, it will not happen. The honest people may give up their guns and forfeit the right to defend themselves, but the crooks will either retain their guns or obtain new ones. The places with the strictest gun laws usually have the highest murder rates.
If you did get all the guns out of the hands of the public, the demand for murder would nevertheless inspire and invoke a generous supply. Knives can achieve the same objective, and they give the subhuman beast with the knife a more intimate experience with the murder. Cars and trucks can also be used when driven into an unsuspecting crowd. Poison works as well. Even murderers can be creative.
The demand for murders is currently very strong, but not necessarily inelastic. Our race baiters have long tried to bring out the worst racist potential in our black communities, inspiring them with the idea that it is the fault of the current white population that we had slavery in our country a mere couple hundred years back. To this point, our militant young black population have begun to turn our city centers into murder centers, mostly killing their own, but anxious also to wreak vengeance on their local police. 
One can understand the desperation and frustration of young men with no prospects, especially once they have become attached to the consumption and sale of drugs and safely ensconced in the bosom of their gangs. The city centers have lived under democrat policies since the Jim Crow era and their lives have been exasperated by the destruction of the nuclear family and the maintenance of defunct school systems.
Less understandable are the student soldiers sponsored and promoted by the democrat resistance in the form of the Antifa and Black Lives Matter. Relying on students to burn, loot and riot is, of course, a disservice to their communities and to the misguided and indoctrinated students.
But the crimes of neither the poor city center gangs nor the more affluent radicalized students will be deterred by a misplaced sympathy dictating an end to policing or criminal sanctions. When they are convinced that crime is demanded by woke city administrators, the supply of crimes and murder will increase to meet the demand. Being kind to criminals simply calls for an escalation of crime. How is it that “woke” people fail to perceive what is happening so close to their personal lives. Normal people move out of California and New York; woke folks build a wall around their celebrity property or live in fear.