There needs to be a change of attitude when dealing with the prioritization of drastic and progressive efforts and gun violence needs to top that list before it touches more lives.

Six people were killed and six people were injured during the mass shooting Feb. 15 in Aurora. Since that day there have been 20 more mass shootings taking place in Illinois, according to the Gun Violence Archive. As of March 17, there have been 58 mass shootings, and nearly 10,305 gun violence incidents in the U.S.

Check today and the number of gun violence incidents will have increased by 100, some days 200. Children, officers, friends and family, are all senselessly injured or killed due to gun violence. If they survive, the mental damage outlives any physical damage.

The U.S. is not the only country affected either; a terrorist attack which included gun violence occurred Friday in Christchurch, New Zealand.

All this hurt is happening, yet rarely is the weight felt by everyone, due to desensitization. A day needs to come when people begin to feel so sick with these atrocities that something gets done.

“It’s easy to become numb and accustomed to [mass shootings] when it’s happening every day,” Adil Erradi, sophomore political science major and president of College Democrats, said. “It’s easy to forget people’s names and think of them as just numbers until you see their families and the people who loved them in their lives crying”

America has one mass shooting every day, meaning four or more people are injured or killed every day due to gun violence, according to an Oct. 3 CBS report. Society is approaching a point where, if this trend continues, every person will know or have known at least one victim to gun violence, if not become a victim themselves.

“People think [gun violence is] not going to happen to them,” first-year physics major Lauren Marc said. “A lot of people against gun protections are people who never experience gun violence. They’re not a student at a school; they’re not in situations where it’s likely for something to happen to them.”

The news cycle changes with every mass shooting, and life goes on.

Viewers’ eyes are inevitably drawn to other lore, and chants supporting unwavering rights to gun ownership are amplified, forgetting the heart-shattering screams of mothers losing their children or a friend losing a friend. Out of sight out of mind.

 

People cannot afford to sustain this mentality any longer. People should not wait until it’s their neighbor, friend or family picked off by someone with a gun. When people care, and when that care is not fleeting, problems get solved, legislation gets passed and innocent lives are saved.