Gun violence has been an issue in this country for as long as I can remember. In recent years, the number of mass shootings has increased tremendously. While I have some of my own theories for why this has been happening, I will not be focusing on these. Instead, I will focus on, you guessed it, President Trump.

After the latest shooting in Florida this past Valentine’s Day, the political mood towards “gun control” has shifted greatly. This should surprise many people, as it did myself. It should surprise liberals because all Republicans must be in the pocket of the NRA, and they don’t care about children, and they’re horrible people, and Trump and his administration are fascists. It should surprise conservatives because the second amendment, and freedom, and the right to own whatever they want, and Trump is the next Reagan. Whatever your stance on politics, I can’t see how anyone can object to what Trump has proposed to do now.

I put parentheses around “gun control” because that phrase is misleading. True “gun control” would mean that only government forces could use and obtain guns. This is true fascism/communism/authoritarianism and should never happen. What Trump has proposed is a series of measures that will impose some limits on gun sales. Very soon after the shooting occurred, Trump posted on social media what he intends these limits to be; to put in place comprehensive background checks with an emphasis on mental health, raise the age to purchase a firearm to 21, and ban the sale of bump stocks. In true Trump style, he has come up with a compromised plan that should appeal to both sides of the aisle.

As many have always said, and I have always agreed with, mental health is the issue, not guns. With a strong focus on this aspect of the issue, Trump’s plan seems to me to be exactly what we need. While some conservatives may not be too happy about raising the legal age or banning bump stocks, those are just some sacrifices they will have to make to ensure things like this never happen again. And really, besides shooting at people, what point is there really to owning a bump stock? They are not used for hunting or target shooting, so you tell me. I also must agree with the idea of arming teachers that has been going around lately.

The arming of teachers, or at least school staff, could allow for swift action against an assailant that could save lives. Unlike the cops that did not enter the school while the shooting was occurring and could have saved many children, teachers in the building could have ended it quickly.

Actions must be taken. Idleness does no one any good, and the phrase “sending thoughts and prayers” has been so overused that it has lost all meaning (not that it had much, to begin with). If any one thing can be said about Trump, it's that he gets things done. He is a man of action, and that is exactly what is needed to stop this epidemic.