I am distraught by the recent uptick in mass shootings we have seen over the past month in the United States. Plain and simple, this must end. So many innocent lives have been taken.Yet somehow, there is still a huge number of people arguing that we should not ban assault weapons.

This is mind-boggling to me. I long to see the day that the United States goes weeks, months and even years without a mass shooting, but right now, we see them happening on almost a daily basis. What can we do to end this horrific streak of shootings?

On Thursday, April 8, President Joe Biden discussed his plans to combat this crisis and get things under control in America. In his speech, he urged Congress to ban both assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and asked for new background check laws to be passed. These steps are crucial in determining our future and safety in the United States. 

It will certainly be interesting to see how Congress votes, and for every member who votes against enacting gun control legislation, I will be wondering why and how they can watch American citizens be killed every day in senseless acts of violence and still actively vote against keeping us safe.

Something critical that really stood out to me while researching the United States and gun violence was the fact that we rank number one in firearms per capita, according to the Small Arms Survey. That’s 393 million firearms in total, or 120.5 firearms for every 100 Americans. 

Another thing that stood out to me was something that Biden mentioned on Thursday, which is the fact that former President Bill Clinton passed a ban on assault weapons in 1994, and the number of mass shootings clearly went down. 

What is stopping Congress from passing sensible gun control legislation again? How can lawmakers see the staggering number of Americans who own firearms, growing by the day, and still debate what is causing these deadly shootings? 

I’ve heard all the excuses in the world, like “It’s about mental health, not guns,” or “we have the Second Amendment.” These two excuses are simply inaccurate and outdated. Let’s debunk the first excuse. While it is true that many mass shooters suffer from mental illnesses, this doesn’t change the fact that they owned and used a firearm to kill people. The fact that lawmakers are using mental health as an excuse to stop gun control is a downright disgrace.

I’ve also never quite understood the Second Amendment argument, because we are not the same nation that we were over 200 years ago. At the time that the Constitution was written, slavery was prevalent in the United States, women could not vote and the nation was fresh out of the American Revolution. A lot has changed, and both the United States and the Constitution have developed over time to become more progressive and fight inequality. So, why can’t our gun laws also develop as we see a sharp rise in horrible, deadly mass shootings? 

Imagine an America where everyone feels safe, and we don’t hear about mass shootings nearly every day. It’s truly sad, because I feel that we’ve been desensitized to this violence due to the frequency of the shootings. Years ago, a mass shooting would have gained national attention and would be talked about for weeks. Now, we seem to glaze them over, because as soon as one mass shooting occurs, another will happen a day or two later. It is sickening.

“Gun violence in this country is an epidemic, and it’s an international embarrassment,” President Biden said on Thursday.

It’s true. If we don’t start taking concrete, sensible action soon, how can we heal as a nation from these mass shootings? It’s time that Congress steps up and does the right thing, no matter what political party, for the good of this nation.