Over the course of the past couple days, several horrible acts have been committed against innocent American citizens. First, singer/songwriter Christina Grimmie who appeared on Youtube and the tv show, The Voice, was shot at her own concert in Orlando on Friday night.  Then, early this morning, 50 people were killed and at least 53 were injured in a mass shooting at an LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) club in, once again, Orlando.  As if that wasn’t enough, this afternoon, a man was headed to Los Angeles LGBTQ pride with guns and possible explosives in his car, but thankfully he was arrested before anything could happen.

I’m angered, saddened, but above anything, I’m frustrated. Frustrated that these senseless acts of violence are STILL happening. It would be different if the United States as a country had taken steps to prevent things such as these from happening, but it appears that no progress has been made. The saddest part is, when I saw each tragedy on the news, I wasn’t surprised. And that’s quite awful. But the truth is, at this point, mass shootings resulting in countless injuries and deaths happen so often that I’m honestly not shocked. What seems to be the recurring cycle is: something terrible and heartbreaking like these events will take place, people will recognize and mourn over it, nothing will be changed, and then it will happen again. Same thing. Over and over.

What I honestly cannot wrap my head around is people who preach “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. First of all, guns DO kill and injure people; that’s why they are built, and that is their purpose. Also, yes, people do kill people. That is absolutely right. But maybe, just maybe, those people with intent to kill will be less likely to do so if there are stricter gun laws in place. In fact, through data collected by the Small Arms Survey in 2007, it was found that per 100 people in the U.S., 88.8 possessed civilian-owned guns; leading far ahead of all other countries in the world. In comparison to Canada, who allows for some access to guns but also has major restrictions, only a rate of 30.8 civilian-owned guns were recorded per 100 people. Another shocking statistic compiled by Global News using data from Statistics Canada and The U.S. Wisqars Injury Mortality Report, states, “Overall, Americans are almost 70 percent more likely to die at the end of a gun- shot by someone else, by themselves, by accident- than Canadians are to die in a car accident.” Now if that doesn’t speak volumes, I don’t know what will. We can’t just stand back as a nation and do nothing. We need to bring justice to these lost lives and ensure there is a smaller chance of  more being taken in the same way.

Unfortunately, there will always be hate, terror, and people who want to kill other people in this world, it’s unavoidable, no matter how disgusting it is. But what isn’t unavoidable is the fact that America needs to step up and take responsibility for their lack of protection to U.S. citizens. I’m not saying President Obama or others haven’t made attempts to reform gun laws, they most certainly have, but nothing is getting through. After the tragic mass shooting last year in San Bernardino, California, the President spoke out, “We have a pattern now, of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.” A lot of people rant and rave all the time about their second amendment rights and their guns, but what’s more important? Protecting a gun from being taken away or protecting a human life from being taken away? Please think about that. I know placing stricter gun laws will not fix everything, but SOMETHING, anything, has to be done. We must at least begin to try.

This problem is not going to magically fix itself. I’m tired of hearing about it, I’m tired of crying about it, and I’m tired of no action being taken. It’s time to realize just how many lives have been taken, and how the U.S. continues to stand idly by as it happens time after time. Ask yourself if you’re okay with that.

If you get nothing else out of this article, please take some time to respect the loss of life in these last couple days, it’s all extremely heartbreaking. I feel for the suffering friends and families of these individuals, but above all, those whose precious lives were violently taken from them far too soon.