Monday, December 14 marks the three-year anniversary of the deadly massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut where 20 children and six adults were slain.

I remember sitting in class when my high school theater teacher interrupted her lesson to give us the news. The tone of the class quickly chilled, and us students were distraught, confused, and saddened. Our attitudes embodied a collective sentiment all across the nation, one that asked, why? Why does this happen and how can it be prevented?

That reaction of my class that I remember so vividly seems so sharp in my memory because it has been brought back up time and time again.

Indeed, it was brought to the foreground of my memory again following the massacre in San Bernardino, when my political science professor chose to give us the news and discuss what he called a “more pressing issue,” in lieu of a lecture on externalities.

The same questions popped up during our discussions: Why does this happen? How can it be prevented?

Simply put, the common denominator is guns. After Sandy Hook, there were boisterous calls from a number of people all across the nation to pass gun legislation, to pass measures aimed at thwarting future mass shootings. They said it was time for our politicians to act and expiate the damages incurred by ridiculously lax gun control measures.

They said that the Second Amendment argument was outdated an inapplicable to our current society. They called for an assault weapons and high-capacity magazine ban, stricter background checks and more mental health stops.

So, today, are their demands any different? Did they not cry out for the same restrictions following the Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado or the massacre in San Bernardino?

According to The Newtown Foundation, since the Sandy Hook massacre, there have been over 90,000 deaths—and counting—as a result of firearms; there have been more mass shootings in 2015 than days; and, according to Everytown, there have been 161 school shootings since 2013.

What’s changed? Are we any more safe in schools, movie theaters, or hospitals than we were three years ago? The numbers say no.

Wayne LaPierre, the leader of the NRA, can be blamed for some of the stalemate that exists in congress when gun legislation is brought up. Following the Sandy Hook shooting, LaPierre stated that, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun,” and vehemently argued that if not for the gun-free nature of the elementary school, the kids would have been much more safe.

Thanks to the disgusting amount of control over congress the NRA has by way of their lobbying, republican congressmen “bought” in to the sick ideology of LaPierre, thereby mitigating much of any progress on gun control.

Is now the time? In three years, 90,000 firearm deaths, and 161 more school shootings enough to get the government to ditch the NRA’s ineffective phony policies?

There is no indication that people are more eager to change gun policies now than they were three years ago. There’s a factor of desensitization that envelopes much of the American public where these mass shootings have become routine, something to expect.

Anywhere else in the world and events like these would alter the fabric of society completely. It is time we come to understand that the right to bear muskets is not the same as the right to unload an AK in to a crowd of innocent people.