You've probably heard a lot about mass shootings recently. Of course, your heart aches for the victims of the Orlando shooting back in June. You know about Houston, Dallas, Washington, Charleston, Philadelphia: basically, all the shootings that gain national attention. Things are to the point where CNN sounds repetitive when reporting mass shootings because they are happening so frequently. Would you be shocked if I told you that national media didn't even cover half of the mass shootings that have happened so far this year? At the rate these shootings are occurring, they don't even have the chance to.

As of today, September 26, there have been 359 mass shootings in the United States. Four-hundred-and-sixty-five of the eighteen-hundred victims are dead. Out of the 270 days that have gone by this year, only 93 of them went by without a mass shooting. That's 13 weeks. Roughly one third of the year we've lived so far. I'm sure by the time you read this, that number will have increased.

A large percentage of these shootings can be attributed to gang-related violence, domestic violence, and school shootings, but more recently we are seeing terrorist attacks. A terrorist attack is defined on vocabulary.com as

"The calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear. coup de main, surprise attack."

Omar Mateen planned and followd through with a terrorist attack when he open fired in an Orlando night club. His reasoning behind it was his Islamic faith and abhorrence of the LGBTQ community.

The man who shot and killed five Dallas police officers was making a political statement because he was unhappy with recent events with the Black Lives Matter Movement and police brutality. The attacker, Micah Johnson, stated that he wished harm to white police officers, and wanted to kill more. Materials to make bombs were found in his residence. He planned his attack. He committed an act of terrorism.

Dylan Roof committed a terrorist attack when he shot and killed nine innocent souls at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC. Roof gained their trust by attending bible studies, and was planning his attack the entire time. His actions were based on race. This hit close to home for me; I live in South Carolina and the Charleston Church Massacre opened my eyes to what kind of society we are living in. I hate that I live in a world where good, honest people were murdered because of the color of their skin.

Liberals will fight for stricter gun laws. Conservatives will preach the right to bear arms--I could give you a million reasons why I personally stand by this, but that is hardly the point. Maybe guns are the problem, and maybe they aren't. I do know one thing though: people are a problem. We are all so focused on what's going to happen with gun laws and the NRA after the presidential election that we aren't focusing on the people.

What could have been done to prevent these shootings without taking away people's rights?

What can we do to prevent future shootings?

How can we stop people from having such hateful thoughts?

As a nation, we need to be proactive and find a way to stop someone from even considering walking into a public place and committing such a despicable crime. It breaks my heart knowing that so many people are suffering from these mass shootings, and that so many people will continue to suffer because it isn't going to stop. You can choose to fight for our right to bear arms, or you can choose to fight for stricter gun laws. It doesn't matter; gun laws will not change over night. The NRA will not dissipate at the snap of your fingers. What you can do in the meantime is teach your friends, children, brothers and sisters to be compassionate and have respect for everybody. Shame hateful thoughts and hateful actions. We can see immediate results, especially in future generations.

Contrary to the beliefs of Thomas Hobbes, I do not believe that human nature is inherently bad. Every action starts out as a thought. Why can't we give people a reason to change their mind?