I graduated high school in 2014. That's two years after 20 children and 6 adults were murdered in their classroom. Two years after 12 people were murdered at a movie theatre. Two years before 49 people would be murdered in a nightclub. Three years before 58 people were murdered and 500 wounded at a concert. Four years before 17 students would be killed in their high school. But those aren't the only incidents, right?

Before I graduated in 2014, I did every active shooter drill. I remember sitting in darkness with my classmates as supposed students banged on the door to let them in, as the supposed shooter banged on the door and jiggled the handle, as the supposed shooter set off fire alarms to see who would fail, and shouting in the hallway. The thing about active shooter drills though is that it's only a drill, not the real thing. We would laugh, text, continue our homework in the darkness, but there was always a kid who took it too real. There was always a kid who cried at the very thought of this happening in our school. And it never did. But even when drills are followed, it happens somewhere else.

In modern-day America, the supposed Greatest Country in the World, drills should be only that: drills. There should be no fear here that someone is going to walk into a school building, nightclub, movie theatre, church, and start shooting. Even as a student in a town that is claimed to be "safer than 73% of US cities," some kid coming in with a gun was one of my biggest fears, when it really shouldn't be. And unless something changes, it will continue to be one of the biggest fears in this country.

"Well, guns don't kill people, people kill people."

Yes, that is correct. The people who put their hands on the gun are the ones who will become the killer. So, why shouldn't we have more regulations on the people buying guns, devices created for the direct purpose of killing, to at least try and keep guns from getting into the wrong hands? This includes: expanding background checks, training, a written test, a drug test, mental requirements, regulating the size of the magazine clip, oh and, banning the AR-15 which has been used in multiple attacks, including the most recent in Parkland, Flordia.

"Well, that shooter was mentally ill."

Mental illness exists everywhere yet there are hundreds of mass shootings in the US. Even though the mentally ill are in some way involved, mental illness is not the leading cause. Not all who are considered mentally ill are unfit to carry a gun. And for the percentage that is, then why is there no treatment? Calling a shooter mentally ill is simply an excuse, a scapegoat even, and not only gives those who are mentally ill a bad name in a time where that's already at an extreme, but it takes away from what the shooter did, which is probably kill. If being "mentally ill" is an excuse, then we need to take a look at this treatment in America where it can be as much as $200 to see a therapist and for those who aren't covered by insurance, how will they ever be diagnosed or prescribed medication to treat themselves?

"Yeah, but still, people should've spoken up. They saw he was ill."

First of all, no one should be blaming the victims of a horrific event. Ever. Secondly, not only did people speak up and they were not heard, but there are plenty of reasons why people can't speak up. People, especially kids who don't know any better, are afraid. In a school setting where you believe someone is an issue and you talk to someone about it, there is always a chance that it will be taken as an issue between you and the student. When I was in middle school, they brought you in with the kid you "told on" and sit you both down to talk. That is terrifying. That also makes you a possible target in case such an event is to happen. Not to mention this kind of thing is mostly a joke to high schoolers. In 2014, when I graduated, kids talked about who would be the "school shooter" or who "looked like" one. Most people say that and move on believing it will never happen until in some cases it does. But that is a new desensitized way of looking at this events.

"Well, then we should arm teachers instead."

Most teachers have to pay for their own supplies, who's going to pay for such training and the gun itself? More importantly, it is a teacher's job to teach. A teacher signed up to teach students, not train to take down shooters. Of course, teachers are the ones who would lay down their own lives for their kids, but gun vs. gun could not better the situation. In fact, it could even be easier for a kid to get their hands on a gun at school rather than bringing one in. If a gun is in the classroom, wouldn't it be locked up? How long would it take to free that gun during an attack?

"We need a good guy with a gun."

A good guy with a gun doesn't work. And the good guy with a gun wouldn't need a gun if there was no bad guy with a gun. Armed citizens rarely jump in to successfully stop an attack or take the bad guy out. Plus, when mass shootings do take place, especially when it comes to schools, it's gun-free zones.

"Laws haven't stopped drugs, so why would it stop guns?"

Well, that's an extremely different argument. Gun control works everywhere else in the world. Like Japan, Canada, Australia, and Scotland to name a few. Secondly, Its simply been scientifically proven that laws do, in fact, save lives. You can say bad guys will do bad things, but it's better to make laws to at least try and prevent such tragedies instead of saying it won't work at all and move on. It's not working now. We need something other than thoughts and prayers.

America has one of the highest rates of gun violence in the world. It's time to take a look at the trigger-happy country and put some kind of control in place. The survivors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are asking for us to politicize this tragedy so a drill will only be a drill.

Before I graduated in 2014, I was told to "be nice to the kid that looks like he could be a school shooter so when he shoots, maybe he won't shoot you." These are the things that shouldn't be happening, not here. Enough children have died. Enough innocent lives have been cut short. No one is taking away the second amendment but it is time to change the way we take advantage of it. There needs to be control. People are grieving but they are angry. I am angry. The parents who have to bury their children are angry. The survivors are angry. This country is angry because this should have been prevented. A right to own a gun does not mean more than someone's life. A child's right to survive a day at school outweighs your right to own a gun. This isn't liberal versus conservative, this is life vs death.

The kids, the future of this country, are speaking out. They want action and solutions to a problem that shouldn't be happening in 2018 America. Make it political. It's time we do something more than offer empty thoughts and prayers.