We must have stricter gun laws. This includes banning the use of assault rifles, and increasing control and background checks when selling gun. Unfortunately, for many people and politicians today this is too progressive. Ever since I can remember there have been mass shootings that have surrounded me. 17 mass shootings, on average, will occur in the two weeks from when I am writing this to when this magazine is delivered. Growing up in my generation, we have become numb to the news of mass shootings because it has become so common in our lives and in the news. Guns often fall into the hands of people who are not mentally or physically able to responsibly own a gun. 12 days after a horrific 1996 mass shooting in Australia, its government enacted laws to help eliminate all gun use. The government bought back one fifth of all Australia’s semi-automatic weapons, created laws that prohibited private sales, required all gun owners to register their guns and mandated that buyers provide a “genuine reason” of why you need to purchase it. According to the Washington Post, Australia’s homicide rates dropped 59% in just 10 years. We should follow their example and create laws that make gun regulations stronger and more limiting. The problem is that a part of our country believes if we make one law constricting gun use, then their second amendment rights are being violated. This idea of protecting your freedom by keeping guns isn’t logical. If in 2015 firearms killed 13,286 people, how is your safety being protected if you are at risk for being shot and killed? How is your safety being protected if in 2015, at least 265 people were accidentally shot and killed by children who found an unsecured gun in their own home? The worst way to lose your freedom is death. There are far too many lives at stake due to our country’s excessive gun use. Despite this, many proponents of guns say that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” If this is true, then why has Australia’s murder rate dropped so drastically? Why are guns getting into the hands of criminals and the mentally ill? Why are six and seven-year-old children going to school one day and never walking out again? I am ashamed that our great country is so advanced technologically, economically, and politically, yet nothing is being done about this pressing issue. We must have stronger gun control laws. I won’t support this culture of guns. In this next presidential term, gun control is a crucial issue that must be more than talked about. It is time to make a change.