After the brutal murders of TV reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward in Virginia yesterday, the liberal press reacted in a predictable way, calling for stricter gun laws and more mental health monitoring.

Sadly, there is no way any country can stop disturbed individuals from killing people.  And because of America’s history, there is no way total control of firearms will ever happen.

Americans have a right to bear arms in order to defend themselves.  That is not going to change.

And because all of us have that constitutional right, criminals and maniacs will abuse it and destroy innocent human beings.

It is worth noting that Chicago and Illinois have ultra-strict gun laws but cannot stop the gang violence that has brought shame to that city.

But there is something else going on and Senator Marco Rubio identified it last night.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): "What has happened to us as a society that we now devalue life to such a level?  What has happened in our society that people have become so violent?  That's the fundamental question we need to confront."

What Rubio is spotlighting is a rise in nihilism and a decline in spiritual belief.

A person practicing nihilism believes in nothing but his or her own desires.

Those folks have no loyalties, no purpose outside of their own gratification.

Nihilism is a close cousin to narcissism, where a person believes he or she is never wrong and lacks empathy for other human beings.

In 40 years of covering the news, almost every killer I’ve reported on has been a nihilist.

For example, I just finished writing about the would-be assassin John Hinckley in my upcoming book Killing Reagan.  At the time he shot Reagan, Hinckley believed in nothing.

There is no question that America is now turning away from spiritualism and embracing the culture of “me” … what “I” want.

Since 2007, Americans describing themselves as Christian have declined almost 8 percent while those who believe in no religious doctrine have risen almost 7 percent.

In many media precincts, religious folks are openly mocked, considered to be fanatics.

That message is seeping in, especially to younger Americans.

The killers in Colorado, Charleston, Connecticut and now Virginia -- all young men who had few restraints in their lives.

If you do not believe in anything, anything goes.

So the next time you hear a pundit saying gun control or stricter mental health monitoring or whatever else they come up with is going to stop the senseless murders of human beings, know you are being deceived.

Only a society that insists all human life is valuable and a mass media that promotes that will begin to see a turn-away from violence.

It's all about the philosophy of loving your neighbor.  Not the myth that a centralized government can prevent barbaric behavior.

It can't. 

And that's the memo.