I have a confession to make. This weekend, I went to a fireworks show with my family and some friends. Amongst the gorgeous fireworks, I found myself being clouded by worry—whether irrational or not—about the amount of people in a closed-off space. Unfortunately, I found myself looking around to see if there were any suspicious characters wandering around the kids, families, and cute lil old people. To be blunt, I worried about a person with a gun being in the crowd, preparing for the unspeakable.

As an excitable-yet-infrequent reader of The New York Times, I find myself picking up a single newspaper and reading through the entire contents of it until I’ve finished it, a process that takes a couple days at least. The latest Sunday edition of the Times looked at how the term "active shooter" has migrated from being just a term that police forces use to being a part of our American vernacular, due to the insane amount of shootings we see every week. Shootings have become cultural here in America. Scary, right? Shootings are a part of our culture.

With this terrifying news in the back of my mind, I found myself looking over my shoulder the entire time I was at this "fun" event. Every banging noise that was heard overhead suddenly became a startling threat. I was jumpy. I couldn’t focus fully on the beauty that unfolded before me because I was scared. I was scared for my parents. I was scared for my sister, who was with other friends in a different spot. I was scared for my friends who were with me.

So how do we proceed to our picnic-blanketed events, sports games, or even schools without the constant fear that we or our loved ones are going to be fatally injured in today’s gun-obsessed America? I can tell you right now that the answer is definitely not to put more guns into circulation. Fortunately for us, we don’t live in the Wild West anymore, so the idea of gun battles going down in the streets between the good, the bad, and the ugly is a moot one. I’m extremely glad that I never have to face anyone down at high noon.

This all comes down to understanding our constitutional rights. Yes, we have a right to bear arms. You’re right. But, let’s look at it a little more closely: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." This Amendment was written when tyranny and a lack of money prevented the States from assembling a comprehensive, country-wide army. States had to protect themselves, meaning citizens had to keep weapons in order to assemble as an army. Now that we have an army (and navy, air force, coast guard, etc.) that functions regardless of the state of the states’ militias, we really have no need for these weapons. Sure, ‘everyone loves hunting.’ Fine, ‘it’s to protect your family.’ But here’s the thing: the Second Amendment is useless now. Our military is built to both protect our country and our citizens. If a tyrannical president rises to power, the military has the capacity to remove him/her from office (despite no Amendment that expresses that function.) What we need is a twofold plan. First, let’s repeal the Second Amendment. Second, we must pass a comprehensive Amendment that explores the (I stress this) very few reasons why people would be able to own a gun and restricts (yes, Texas, restricts) how the gun can be kept, who can access it, and who can fire it. Without the antiquated Second Amendment, we would see fewer deaths by toddlers playing with the family gun they found, fewer people being able to buys guns with the express reason of murdering one or more people, and fewer tragedies (instead of the literal daily ones we see now.)

I love America. I really do. I’m not some ‘Communist liberal who needs to get off his high horse.’ Merely, I’m a concerned citizen who wants to stop seeing people killing in America and stop worrying about my life and my loved ones’ lives every single day. So let’s get something done, America. Let’s fix this. I believe in us. We borrow this Earth from our children, so let’s make sure we’re giving it back with some good left in it.