The mass shooting that took place in Orlando, FL on Sunday, June 12 is now the worst massive shooting to ever occur in the U.S. leaving a current total of 50 people are dead.
This shooting leads with the most casualties than the other two largest mass shootings: the Virginia Tech Massacre in 2007 which took 32 lives and the Sandy Hook Shooting in 2013 which took 27 lives.
We as a society can no longer tolerate atrocities such as this to occur anymore.
According to the gun violence archive website, there have been 5,929 deaths due to gun violence this year.
To put that in perspective, that is the almost the amount of students from North Central College, 2,989, and Augustana College, 2,524 combined with about 400 students left over.
I understand everyone wants to send their prayers and condolences to the friends and family who may have lost one of the 50 lives that were cut short that night.
But that no longer can be how we react to shootings.
We have to challenge our lawmakers to ensure our safety. We have to make sure that weapons stay out of the hands of people such as Omar Saddiqui Mateen, and Kevin James Lolbi who just shot and murdered pop singer Christina Grimmie only a few miles away from this shooting and other potential gunmen who would use guns to end more lives.
We have to do this because one day we might be a friend or a family member of one of the victims whose life is taken in a shooting.
One day, we might be at an event where there is a mass shooting.
God forbid, one day, we might find ourselves staring down the barrel of a gun in a shooting.
But we can help change that, by changing the system of background checks to make them last longer or even have them annually done.
We need to do something because posting on social media about your prayers and condolences can no longer be the answer to atrocities such as this.
It is time we act before more shootings and potentially worse shootings can occur.