There was a shooting in Annapolis, Maryland yesterday. Five people died. Two were severely injured. Everyone in the building at the time and all those who care about them were severely traumatized. And it didn't make the top headline.

It didn't make the top headline.

There was no Facebook filter, no huge outcry, no #prayforannapolis. People saw the news. People went on with their day.

Are we okay with this now? Is this the new normal? Do we all just set out each morning and hope an active shooter doesn't visit our office, our school, our movie theater, our church next?

I hope not. But with each incident, it seems we grow more and more numb to the reality of our situation. 7,074 people have died due to gun violence in 2018. 323 of those people were children. And yet we move on.

There are people crying, screaming, wondering, "Why is this happening to my community? To my family?" And we can all say it won't be us next, but the only way we know that for sure is if we stay at home. And even then, there's not a guarantee.

I know people do not want their guns taken away. I understand. So I think it's only fair for me to give these statistics, which are often presented as some sort of counterargument. In 2017, 40,000 people died in car accidents. Staggering number, isn't it? And, as I'm sure you would like to argue, and you would be right, we are not discussing banning cars or taking anyone's car away (though we might take their license if legally possible). But we are making cars safer. Every year, cars get a bit safer. Air bags, seat belts, collision warning lights, automatic braking in case of collision... all of these additions have been made to increase the safety of our roads.

So, if motor vehicle deaths are your counterargument to gun violence, why wouldn't we at least try to improve the safety of our gun culture? Increase background checks, increase regulation on types of guns available, do something. Because I am tired of opening the news, seeing that there have been several new deaths, and moving on. I am heartbroken at the thought of all those who will not be coming home tonight, simply because they went to a movie, to school, to church, or, as in yesterday's case, to work. We all should be.

Every person who has died as a result of gun violence represents a human life needlessly lost. If these lives were being lost in car accidents, we would make the cars safer to at least assuage the death toll.

Every congressman who fails to take action on this issue is silently accepting the death toll. As our president continues to effectively accept gun violence as a national reality, he is silently accepting the death toll. That means it falls to us. Teach your children the value of all human life, whatever a person's race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, education, age... Respect all those around you, whether you agree with them or not. And for heaven's sake, if you don't want your guns taken away, at least encourage your lawmakers to take action towards making our gun culture a little bit safer. Guns will never be safe. By their very nature, that is not their purpose. But there are changes to be made that will improve the safety of our gun culture, and those need to be made.

We cannot continue to stand idly by as Americans die as a result of needless gun violence.