Due to recent events, the issue of gun control has appeared in the spot light once again. I keep seeing a lot of different sides: those who believe we are safer because some people carry guns on their person, those who hate guns and don’t think we should have them at all, and those who think we need regulation as to what kind of guns can be purchased and who can buy a gun. I can relate to all the sides of this debate, but let me ask you this. Have you thought about kids or those who do not possess the same capabilities with a gun? Have you thought about the fact that there are places that you cannot bring a gun? What about the reality that you may be in your right mind to carry a weapon, but some should not be allowed to.

I’m not going to lie, when I think about things like this, I get a little bit nervous. Our world has changed so much, but our laws are not complying. When I was in high school, we weren’t taught defense. We didn’t know what to do if someone came into the school with a gun, and I can guarantee you that my school was not the only one that never taught its students what to do.

I feel deprived of a life without violence. When my parents went to school, they walked out the door without thinking twice. When I left for school in the mornings, I hoped I came back. It is even worse in college because it is so much easier for someone to just walk onto campus. No matter where I am, I have to think about escape plans and what I would do in case someone came in with a weapon.

Some of you might think I’m ridiculous for thinking that way, but can you blame me? I was born in 1996, and look at what I have grown up with. There have been over 60 “notable” mass shootings since I was born, so it’s been a life filled with violence. I grew up hearing about Columbine. In 2006, a school of Amish students were held at gun point in Lancaster, PA, and less than a year after that, Virginia Tech happened. Since then, there have been the Binghamton shootings, the Tucson shooting, the Oikos University killings, and the Aurora Theater shooting.

Just when you think it can’t get worse, a 20-year-old walks into an elementary school and guns down innocent children. A child is not going to be able to defend themselves, and why would their teachers or principal carry a weapon? Guns scare children, and they have no place in an elementary school. I thought that things would change after that. I had hoped that the laws would become a little stricter and background checks would be more thorough.

And then the Charleston Church shooting, the Umpqua Community College shooting, the Colorado Springs rampage, the Planned Parenthood Clinic, and the San Bernardino mass shootings happened. Orlando happened.

So here we sit as a divided country that can’t take action. I am not ignorant to the fact that guns are like drugs. Just because we make certain weapons illegal doesn’t mean that people can’t still get them. I know that if a person is not allowed to purchase a gun for whatever reason, they can still find a way to get one, but we can’t sit back and do nothing. We all deserve to go out into public without the fear of being harmed.

For those of you who are not convinced, I understand, but I challenge you to look at the world slightly different for a moment. Look at it as if you were the parent of child attending Sandy Hook Elementary school. Try to see the world through the eyes of someone who has seen the damage that can be done because a gun was in the hands of the wrong person. Look through the eyes of a student who has grown up seeing and fearing not only for their own life, but also for the lives of their friends. Think about those who have lost their loved ones to violence.

William Wordsworth once said “Life is divided into three terms - that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present, to live better in the future.”

Compromise is not an easy concept for this country, but we are fools for letting the past continue to repeat itself. Americans are dying, and if we want that to change, we as a country need to adjust our laws. It’s time to stand up for the innocent lives that have been lost so that future lives can be saved.