Another day, another mass shooting. Our new normal in this country. People get sad, they get outraged, and then they forget until it happens again. What happened in Las Vegas this past week was horrific. There’s no other word to describe it. 50 people lost their lives because of one man. 400+ people were critically injured because of one man.

A satiric, but a necessary, article written by The Onion came out this past week noting the perceived ‘helplessness’ of Americans and victims of this particular shooting. It may seem insensitive by some, but honestly, it hits the point home.

Obviously, the people at this festival had no chance of helping themselves in the moment. There were 10 solid minutes of gunfire and mass indiscriminate killing. They, were in a sense, helpless. But, as a country? We are anything but helpless. There is a lot that we can do to prevent these massacres, and we’re choosing not to.

I mean, honestly, as a country where we have mass shootings so often, it’s not like we didn’t see this coming. More mass shootings are going to happen. We know this. And yet, people sit idly by, doing nothing to help our fellow American citizens who are being slaughtered.

And for what? A slight inconvenience when purchasing a deadly weapon? Are you joking?

America has a serious victim complex right now, and that’s a huge problem. We could have helped those people at the festival, we could have helped the people in the Orlando PULSE shooting, we could have helped the children at Sandy Hook elementary, we could have helped so many people in this country, but we chose not to. It is a choice.

I think this clip of the Daily Show brings the point home, so please watch (0:00 – 3:52).

To the people who act like they can’t do anything about these tragedies, especially the ones fighting gun regulation at every turn, at what point will it finally click for you? When will it be bad enough for you to get on board and let us help our country?

It’s easy to make political decisions when you are far removed from the violent consequences. But, I can tell you firsthand that gun violence can happen anywhere. Don’t wait until it directly affects your life to gather your senses. Just help those who it has affected, does affect, and will continue to affect if we do nothing.

America has power. We may not be able to stop every shooting, but we can prevent a lot of them. Don’t choose a gun over someone’s life. You just have to step aside and choose to let us help. Please let us help. Please.