Last week I went to see a 9:30 p.m. screening of "The Conjuring 2" with my boyfriend, my brother, and his girlfriend. I am a huge fan of horror movies and used to frequently binge-watch them with my best friend at sleepovers at all hours of the night. However, nothing was better than seeing a truly scary movie in a dark theatre, screaming, and grabbing your friend or significant other sitting next to you and laughing at each other because you were actually a little scared (even if you wouldn't admit it).

Now, at 21 years of age, going to the movies is a different experience than those blissful days in middle school and high school. While I still spend most of the screening on the edge of my seat, gripping my boyfriend's hand, sometimes, it's not just because some scary demon popped out of the screen and scared the characters in the film, it's because I am honestly scared of the real life demons that choose movie theaters as their hunting ground for fame and glory.

As I sat in the theatre I found myself watching the people sitting in front of me just as much as I was watching the movie. I jumped and turned my head to every person that walked into the theatre late and carefully watched them file into their seats. Every time someone dropped their cell phone or adjusted in their chair I knew because I was paying attention to the sounds of the theatre. The munching of popcorn, the whispers of the audience, waiting to hear the loading of a gun or to see someone come out of the fire exit near the screen. While you may be reading this and thinking that I am overreacting (which on some level I might be), in today's society, these shootings are so prevalent I don't know think I am the only one who has these thoughts cross my mind.

Over the weekend, I was on vacation in Orlando. That same weekend, just 35 minutes away from my hotel, 50 people were killed and more were hospitalized after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Just the day before that, a previous contestant on "The Voice" was shot and killed after one of her concerts, also in Orlando. What is my immediate reaction to these scenarios? To ask, what's next? Who will be the next target and where will it be? Will it be while I am strolling through the Magic Kingdom with my boyfriend and his mom? Will it be in the movie theatre with my brother and his girlfriend? Or will it be at school walking to my next class on my bustling college campus? Each and every one of these scenarios seems plausible and it can or already has happened somewhere across the country.

Gun violence is an issue in America and that is something that cannot be ignored or denied. However, what I thought about while I was sitting at that movie theatre was not that I was scared that somebody had a gun. No, the guns themselves do not scare me. It is the person with the gun that scares me. Yes, you can probably put a gun on a table in front of me and my heart rate will increase and I will be a bit nervous, but when I am sitting in that theatre or strolling through Disney, I am not afraid of a gun. I am afraid of the person who has that gun in their hands and what their next actions can be. As citizens, as students, and as the leaders of tomorrow, we have to take a step back and evaluate the entire situations that we have seen throughout our lifetime. From Columbine to Aurora, to Virginia Tech, San Bernardino, and Orlando, the problem is not solely with the guns. The problem is with the people who have access to them.

While after these past weeks people may be in the uprising, calling for assault rifle bans or strict gun control, we have to look at every single angle of these tragedies we have seen. We have to recognize that a gun did not solely cause the tragedy in Orlando, the man who pulled the trigger (several times) did. There have been countless incidents where firearms were the cause of mass deaths in the United States, and in each case, there was someone there to pull the trigger. Regardless of race, ethnicity, sexuality, or gender, there was a finger squeezing the trigger of that weapon that led to death.

So, we have to question how they got those weapons. Were they purchased legally? Did they have a history of mental health issues? Were they ever investigated for crimes? Did someone with immediate access to their firearms suffer from mental health issues? These are the questions we should be asking in addition to much more before we hand people weapons of mass destruction. There should be steps to ensure the safety of those that choose to bare arms and those around them.

As U.S. citizens and just people, we also have the right to feel safe in our surroundings. We have a right to feel protected, and if to you protection means having a gun, so be it, it is within your rights, but recognize that obtaining that gun should not be a walk in the park. It should require testing, evaluation, and instill a feeling of responsibility both in the hands of the owner and in the hands of those who allowed you to possess that weapon. Maybe, if we as a society joined together and took steps to increase the procedures necessary to have a gun, just maybe we could eliminate putting guns in the hands of those who aren't qualified.

However, I am not ignorant. I do not think that this is the solution to an age-old problem and I do not think that this can completely eliminate the issues we have within this realm of discussion. I recognize that there are still black market weapons and other means to obtain a gun, but I do think that steps need to be made in the safest direction possible and from there we can grow into a stronger and safer country where people can be scared of a movie, not the possibility of a shooter being in the theatre.

So when you sit down to think about our history with gun violence, ask yourself one question, what are you afraid of? A gun, or the person with the gun?