What has happened to us?

A few months ago I ran into a recently retired judge, a former prosecutor and friendly acquaintance, at the grocery store. I asked him what he thought was causing the wave of homicides and shooting incidents around Little Rock. Even in our normally safe, quiet neighborhood, it's not uncommon to hear fusillades of gunfire in the night – semiautomatic pistols, by the sound of them.

"Damned if I know,…