This year – and it’s only May – there have been over 200 mass shootings in the United States, according to a CNN report, with mass shootings defined as those in which four or more people are killed or injured. The gun laws in the United States have to be more strict or at least better enforced.

How can the citizens of this country live comfortably knowing what has happened in the past two weeks?

On May 14, the Black community in Buffalo was targeted and attacked by a 18-year-old white supremacist. In a supermarket, 10 people were killed and three others were injured; 11 of those shot were Black.

Then on Tuesday, an 18-year-old male shot and killed a staggering 21 people – 19 fourth-graders and two teachers – at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.  

Children have been killed as a result of the poor gun laws in America in numerous school shootings. The Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in 2012 left 20 first-graders and six educators dead.

It is sickening and absurd to see school children becoming victims of gun violence. 

The ease in which a person can obtain a gun is outrageous. There is the argument that people need to protect and defend themselves, but 200 mass shootings this year alone should speak for itself. 

The lack of gun control in the United States has affected individuals of all ages, ranging from children to the elderly. 

The United States of America is one of the richest, most advanced countries in the world. So why is it so difficult to make reformations on gun laws? The epidemic of gun violence that is taking the United States by storm should be resisted by all political parties, Democrats and Republicans alike. 

According to www.nbcnews.com, “Active shooter incidents in 2021 surged by more than 50 percent from 2020 and nearly 97 percent from 2017.”

There needs to be a change – not later, but now. There should not be reports of shootings in school, markets, churches or anywhere where people congregate. 

Other countries have addressed this issue.

According to bbc.com, the mass shooting of 16 people in Hungerford, England, in 1987 “led to the banning of all modern semi-automatic rifles, the type of guns that can be fired rapidly without needing to be reloaded.”

The United Kingdom stepped up to keep their civilians safe, but the United States refuses to do the same after many mass shootings have taken place. 

We as a community and a nation should put an end to the gun violence that is killing our loved ones.