Every time after a mass shooting in the United States, we do the same thing. We spend the first few hours in shock, somehow surprised and devastated that this happened again even though these things happen literally every day in America now. After the initial shock passes, the population splits. One part of the population clings to their guns with a level of passion that I wish was applied to human life. Another part of the population reignites a fierce movement to remove guns from the hands of civilians. They play tug-of-war for a few days, maybe a few weeks, and ultimately, get nowhere. The excitement dies down, and we sit quietly until another deranged shooter mows down an undetermined amount of innocent people, and the cycle repeats.

I’m so sick of this d*mn cycle.

America has a gun problem. I don’t care which side of party lines you fall on. I don’t care if you don’t like politics or don’t watch the news. You know that we do, just as well as I do. So what are we going to do about it? Take all the guns? That has never worked before, and with the NRA and Constitutionalists all up in arms--literally--it won’t work this time. So let’s compromise.

You do not need a semi-automatic rifle. You do not need a military-grade weapon in your possession. It’s time we get these weapons of mass destruction out of the hands and homes of civilians. You don’t need them for hunting; hunters prefer guns and ammunition that do less damage to an animal so they get more meat and can mount the animal after a stop at the taxidermist. You don’t need them to protect your family; firing 45 rounds a minute to stop a criminal in your home might land you with a dead criminal, but also significant damage to your home, and more than likely, injured or dead members of your family that were hit by the spray.

The sole purpose of weapons like these are to kill lots of people in a short amount of time. We got a demonstration of that in Orlando this past weekend.

I get it, it’s your Constitutional right to own an AR-15. Well, it used to be a right to refuse service to African-Americans at restaurants and segregate schools. Laws are meant to change as time changes. When our Founding Fathers gave us the right to bear arms, they were wielding inaccurate muskets that took a long time to operate, not firearms that could kill hundreds faster than a pizza can be delivered to your house.

The other argument I hear for keeping AR-15s? They’re fun. Let me just say this: if you believe your hobby is more important of the hundreds of human lives that have been lost at the hands of people who lawfully obtained murder machines, you are too sick of a person to be holding a gun anyway.

America has a problem. We’re not going to be able to get rid of all guns, and I’m not sure if we should. But we have to make a change because I don’t want to live in constant fear of being gunned down at school, in a movie theater, or in a nightclub all because you think guns are fun.