On Sunday, November 5th, a gunman opened fire at a Church in Texas, leaving 26 dead. On October 1st, Stephen Paddock killed 58 and injured over 500 concertgoers in Las Vegas. July 20th, 2012 in a movie theater in Colorado, a man shot and killed 12 innocent people.

These and many other similar attacks on innocent people are becoming so common in our culture, that one day on social media we are #prayingforvegas, and with just the blink of an eye, our thoughts are with #sutherlandsprings. While thoughts and prayers are comforting in dark times for our country, policy and change are what could have saved someone's mother or father, someone's sister or brother, or someone's child.

We need to face the facts. We need to start with acceptance. Acceptance of what the real issue is.

Although Donald Trump will continue to say that none of these shootings are "gun issues" when a white American male is pulling the trigger, he springs into action (on Twitter mostly) when he can blame an attack on terrorists.

Time and time again, Trump and many other Americans hide from the truth; white American men have largely been at fault for this manslaughter, yet they continue to be given the pardon that they have a mental illness. And honestly, I would love nothing than for this to be the case.

It is a difficult thing to swallow; that a sane person could be senselessly murdering innocent people. However, we cannot be cowards.

We cannot follow in the footsteps of our President and refuse to acknowledge who the perpetrators of violence continue to be.

If we refuse to see equality across all genders, races, and religions when an attack comes from a foreigner or a person of color, then how can we refuse to accept who is truly causing disaster in our nation?

If people were being murdered at the hands of someone who was Muslim; it's terrorism. When a black man is committing the crime, it's used an excuse to stereotype a group of people. 98% of mass shootings are committed by men, and, since 1982, 64% of these crimes have been from white men.

The numbers speak for themselves. We cannot continue to pardon these men because of their race, by saying that they couldn't control themselves due to a mental disorder.

Death is death.

Murder is murder.

Children should not be growing up in a world where they fear going to see a movie with their mom or, or get nervous about going to school and getting an education.

I should not have to hug my parents so tight when I leave for a concert, simply because a deadly chunk of metal has more rights than I do.

The United States of America was founded by, and continues to be led by white men; many of whom may have this silent rage built up inside of them that previous gunmen have. Our government is making decisions based on protecting profit, not people.

The only people being protected are white males, who, due to the makeup of our government, have an important, "perfect" image to uphold.

Men seem to have a tendency to want to show "who's boss," and I strongly feel that this can be related to how young boys are taught to be "manly". Boys learn from a very early age that expressing your emotions through crying or talking is "for girls," and this can be very damaging, as boys must form other ways to handle their emotions.

When society makes men feel that anger is the best way to deal with their problems and then freely place guns in their hands, we are asking for disaster.

How society has not yet realized this baffles me.

People who are against gun control will argue that "a good guy with a gun can save lives."

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that no "good guy" would need a gun to save lives if we had gun control, preventing "bad guys" from ever owning firearms in the first place.

To sum this up, I'll keep it real simple. America, please notice what is happening.

Our country is slowing becoming filled with parents who will never hug their children again, young adults who will never know if they would have been accepted to their dream college, and families who had faith in their country protecting them and have been let down. And yet, nothing is being done.

The government is refusing to take a stand against our domestic terrorists simply because they happen to be white men.

We need greater variety in our leaders, we need unity, and we need to seek gun control; instead of preparing ourselves for the next "hashtag" about who our thoughts and prayers are going to.