In the first three weeks of 2023, there were 40 shootings in the United States.

On January 6^th, a six-year-old boy took a gun to school and shot his teacher in Virginia. On Saturday, January 21^st, 10 people were murdered and another ten injured in a shooting in Monterey Park, California. On Monday, a man shot and killed seven people and injured one at two plant nurseries in Half Moon Bay, California. Hours later, a shooter 41 miles away at a gas station injured seven people and killed one person.

It’s no secret that mass shootings are on a horrifying incline in the U.S. The total number of gun-related deaths rose 31% between 2019 and 2022. The United States is one of the only nations in the world to have more civilian guns than people. As the number of massacres increases, people go out to buy more and more guns to feel safe in public. It is a vicious cycle that only contributes to the consumerism Americans are so entangled in. They are desensitized to the gun violence they are subject to. Americans are used to hearing about the latest shooting on the news, and their minds are riddled with anxiety. It’s impossible to properly cope with such catastrophes before another one comes along.

Shootings have taken the safest spaces from us and turned them into nightmares. The gun violence epidemic has taken the American mind and filled it with anxiety and a sense of doom. School is no longer a place to be with friends or learn; it has transformed into a place where our lives could be taken from us. This isn’t only terrifying, it’s wrong. People should never have to walk into a public place and map out an escape route in case of a shooting. It’s entirely unjust that while the NRA profits off mass fear of a gun attack, the number of victims of gun violence is growing. Politicians in the country must open their eyes to the wreck that they are directly contributing to with their lack of action.

Today, staying silent is no longer an option.