"At this point it's like, 'Oh, another six people got shot and killed over a week in a poor black community. Business as usual,'" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "So America says, if the urban communities don't care enough about it, then why should we?"

Williams hopes that will change in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

"If this (Newtown) is not enough for all of us to come together and say that something needs to be done, I don't know what is," he said. "Our kids are dying and they're leaving us way too soon, and we have the power to do something about that if we so choose."

'I hurt the same way'

Eddie Bocanegra, born and raised in the rough and tumble section of Little Village on the southwest side of Chicago, is no stranger to gun violence.

Bocanegra, who spent 14 years in prison for murder, is now on a mission to save lives. He is featured in the documentary "The Interrupters," which follows the lives of three community activists fighting to interrupt the fervent violence in Chicago.

The shooting in Newtown spurred the nation to respond, from prayer vigils and donations to around-the-clock news coverage of the event. Although moving, the reaction was also sobering, Bocanegra said.

"A kid growing up in the 'hood has different expectations than a kid growing up in Newtown," said Bocanegra, who works with ex-offenders at the faith-based nonprofit Community Renewal Society in Chicago. "We have worldwide attention on this tragic event in Connecticut, but it shows us how we value life, and it's a shame murder isn't treated the same across the board."

"I hurt the same way you hurt. Murder shouldn't occur, and I say that as someone who took a life," Bocanegra said. "All lives are precious, and one is not worth more than the other."

Every single day in the United States, 13 young people between the ages of 10 and 24 are the victims of homicide, according to federal data. More than 80% are killed with a firearm.

In Philadelphia, the majority of homicide victims are African-Americans between the ages of 15 and 24.

"Every time there is a loss of life, we have to remind ourselves that these are often children. And we have to ask ourselves where have we failed to protect this child?" said John Rich, director of the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice at Drexel University.

The indifference toward urban slayings often comes down to "victim blaming," said Rich, author of "Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men."

"We're using shorthand and stereotypes to draw a conclusion," Rich said. "There's something undeniably different when we have this scale of horrible in Connecticut. And there's something undeniably horrible about a killing a day."

Trauma, poverty and unsafe neighborhoods must be included in the gun control debate, said Ted Corbin, co-director at the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice.

Both Rich and Corbin want to explain the cycle of violence, not excuse it.

As an emergency room physician, Corbin said he regularly sees the carnage of gun violence, and added that it's not enough to "treat them and street them."

"Hurt people hurt people," Corbin said matter-of-factly. "It really is what's perceived by society as what's deserving. A veteran who has served our country deserves services, but the empathy is not there for young people who are chronically exposed to adversity."

"The assumption is that they're bad kids, (without) giving society any responsibility," he said.

Back at Temple University Hospital, the students head from the trauma bay to a classroom for a discussion before they visit the hospital's morgue, Lamont's last stop.

More than 7,000 students have come through the Cradle To Grave program. Amy Goldberg, the hospital's chief trauma surgeon and a co-founder of the program, said she and Charles are committed because the cost of violence is too high.

"I really think it's our responsibility to prevent these kids from coming in. So as much as I may get frustrated on any evening, it really can't stop us," Goldberg said. "We really want to teach them the preciousness of life, that in an instant your life can be changed forever."