I am furious, heartbroken, and my mind has been circulating for days. I wasn't even involved in the catastrophe. I'm furious because for some reason politicians have decided it's okay for children to live in fear of an armed shooter walking onto a school campus.

They've decided the course of action is instead of preventing it, just prepare us. You can go to hell. They have decided it's okay because they aren't doing anything. They are praying, well they have been praying for the past 18 shootings. It doesn't seem to be working.

There seems to be a misconception in our nation. The right to bear arms is trumping the right to live. There is something wrong with this image. On Feb. 14, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He began shooting students inside and outside. Currently, 17 people have been declared dead.

What is it going to take? 18 school shootings have occurred so far in the U.S in 2018. Over 50% of gun-related deaths in the United States are attributed to homicides. Americans are 51 times more likely to be killed by gunfire than those in the United Kingdom.

Since the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in 2012, there have been at least 239 school shootings nationwide. This accounts for 438 people having been shot and 138 whom have been killed. On average, there have been five school shootings a month. These are including shootings that are not mass shootings.

In a recent ABC News story, Donald Trump addressed the recent shooting in Florida saying, "(We need to) help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health," adding that safe schools would be a key focus when he meets with governors and state attorney’s general later this month. After a shooting in November Trump said, "This isn't a guns situation."

This is one hundred percent a gun situation. Mental health is not to be blamed entirely for this. Yes, it is a contributing factor in many of these shootings. But, here is the thing. Guns are made to harm and kill. We shouldn’t have to make our schools safer to prepare for a school shooting. We shouldn’t have to prepare for a school shooting. Not killing other human beings is common sense. What we need are stricter gun laws.

It’s been proven that guns are the problem with the number of shootings we’ve seen. I’m not saying take away all guns. Obviously, people hunt recreationally for food or fun. Great. Lawmakers need to address this issue head-on. How many more innocent children, teenagers, and adults need to die or deal with life-shattering injuries due to gun violence?

What we need are laws that make anyone who wants to have a gun go through a series of screenings. Screenings for extreme mental health problems, perhaps a required class where there is education on gun safety, different types of guns, the proper way to use them, and how to create a safe place to store them. If I was a gun owner, I would be perfectly happy to go through these steps in order to ensure that I wouldn’t hear about gun violence tragedies.

We strongly suggest or make people take driver’s education, make us practice 50-100 hours of driving before allowing us to drive on our own. Driving a car is incredibly dangerous, accidents happen, people die from car crashes. Why don't we take the same precaution with guns?

In 2014, Japan experienced six deaths related to guns. In the United States, we had 33,599 gun deaths. The comparison is incredible. So, what are Japan’s gun laws? To own a gun in Japan, you have to attend an all-day class, take a written exam, and pass a shooting range test with a mark of a least 95%.

In addition, you have to take mental health and drug tests. They check your criminal record and police search for connections to the person and extremists’ groups. They check your relatives and work colleagues. Also, handguns are banned. Yes, it is very extreme but only six people were killed by gun violence compared to 33,599 people.

Again, I’m not saying we need to take all the guns away. But, it’s been proven that our current gun laws aren’t working. How much more tragedy can we take? How many more shootings do we need to see? It doesn’t take a genius to see that we need change.

Lastly, my thoughts and love go out to all the families who lost loved ones in the Florida shooting. You deserve to see change even though it will never make up for the amount pain you are experiencing.

In the words of David Hogg, a brave senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School,

“We're children. You guys are the adults. You need to take some action and play a role. Work together, come over your politics, and get something done.”

If children are telling you to do your job and make a change, you've failed us.