The end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017 have come with a somber tone with two separate shootings in just the last several days.

Our community has been ripped apart by such senseless violence year in and year out.

Apparently, the utter disregard for human life has no end. The culture that allows this to continue must stop.

The matter is not a black or white issue, though disproportionately the victims and the shooters are black.

Such violence should not be labeled with a color. Instead, we should all label people who deal with matters violently as criminals and demand that the justice system deals with them promptly and swiftly.

Until we have laws in place and people — mostly judges and juries — who will enforce those laws and make any who commits a crime pay dearly for their actions, personal wants and desires will outweigh common sense in many of these people.

When violence occurs, some are quick to point to the law enforcement community and while they certainly have a role, they can mostly only work after the fact.

They cannot stop teenagers walking on the street and search them to see if they are carrying an illegally possessed firearm.

They cannot mandate that parents be more involved and show more leadership in a child’s life that many do.

And they are largely defenseless when juries allow the perfect nature of TV crime dramas to taint their ability to convict anyone that is not caught red-handed on video or judges who are light on sentencing criminals.

Crime is our community’s problem, and it will take a concerted and determined effort to rid our community of our criminal element.