On Wednesday, Aug. 26, reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward of WDBJ 7 in Virginia went to work expecting a regular interview with Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce in Moneta, Virginia. Footage shows the interview going smoothly, until things take a turn for the worse. While Gardner was answering one of Parker's questions, Parker and Ward were fatally shot down by ex-coworker Vester Lee Flanagan during a live broadcast seen by thousands of local patrons. Flanagan later committed suicide.

The broadcast footage is now going viral on social media with hundreds of thousands of views. People around the world have seen a local news story gone wrong all because of a gun and a jealous ex-coworker.

When will America wake up? How many shootings will it take for Americans to realize that background checks and screenings should be required in every state to buy a gun?

There have been 35 mass shootings in America since Columbine in April of 1999 and on average 31 people are killed by gun related violence every day. Only seven states require background checks to buy guns at shows. Laws surrounding the mentally ill buying firearms are even looser. Though 44 states have individual laws surrounding the mentally ill and guns, seven states make up 98 percent of the population banning the mentally ill from the databases. The other 37 states make up the remaining 2 percent. Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho was able to buy and carry a gun despite being declared mentally ill two years before he killed 32 students and wounded 17 more.

Despite all of the controversy surrounding gun control in America right now, there is hope. After a shooting in a Louisiana movie theater during a screening of "Trainwreck" in July that killed two moviegoers, Regal Entertainment Group announced that their cinemas will be able to inspect the bag of anyone who enters their theatre for security reasons. Though the policy is not perfect, it could hopefully prevent another mass public shooting.

Alison Parker and Adam Ward's story should be a lesson for the rest of the country. Two more innocent people died on what should have been a regular day on the job. Until more people understand the logistics behind gun laws and mental illness, there cannot be change. Wake up America, we need it.