Within the past few years, gun violence has had a prominently negative effect in our country. In a country where peace, freedom of life and happiness are encouraged, we have found ourselves to be engaged in a perpetual war with each other. Whether gun violence-related attacks are affiliated with terrorism or just some young, unwell civilian, they still harm our country. But for some odd reason, I feel as though there will never be an end to it.

Between school attacks, club attacks, or public event attacks, gun violence has declared its prominence everywhere. We can’t even go to the movies these days without worrying or having a thought in the back of our heads that maybe, just maybe, we’re not as safe as we once were. Now the reason why I believe there is no cure for this horrible epidemic is because we have tried over and over again to end it, and have led to nothing but failed attempts.

As a unit, we, as a country, always seem to mourn the deaths of those lost in gun violence-related attacks or “stand together” only for an extremely short period of time. With every shooting we have had in recent history, we seem to spread awareness, support and unity for about a week or two after the incident occurs. But when those events begin to fade in our memories, we all seem to give up on the support. Maybe it is because many of us are never really affected personally by these horrific events, and that’s a good thing, but we have to begin to understand that we must react as though these have a personal effect if we want to see a change.

Regardless of the fact that we gradually forget about the support we show when these events ignite, gun control as a whole has a long way to go. Even if our country implements “stricter gun laws” or even just simple regulations that prevent most of us from accessing guns, I believe the damage has already been done. The problem isn’t about who can gain access to purchase guns and how easy it is, but it is stopping those people who have them already. Of course, if we can implement regulations that prevent people from purchasing these weapons easily, it would help significantly. We have to find those who currently own guns and check them to see why they have them in their possession, and if they are in current stable mental states to have that control.

Essentially, gun control and gun violence are extremely sensitive and difficult topics, but they are topics we absolutely cannot sleep on. Especially now, with a new president about to step into office, we need to put gun control at the top of our list. It needs to be a priority.