Before I start expressing my opinion, I just want to clarify one thing: I know I am not American, and for some people that renders me biased and completely unqualified to say what I am about to say – but I will do it anyway, because like it or not, I spend the majority of my year living in America, and that entitles me to have an opinion at least. OK, here is the thing: Gun control policies have to change, and they have to do so soon.

I come from a country (Brazil) which is no stranger to violence; most people envy me when I say I study in the United States simply because I can walk on the streets comfortably, without fear of being mugged at any moment. That is true; I am generally not scared of walking on the streets with my phone out because I know the chances of me being mugged in Philadelphia are significantly smaller than they are in São Paulo. But this summer has had me wondering whether I shouldn’t start fearing something even worse happening to me while abroad. There has been a succession of events in a very short amount of time in which several lives have been lost at the hands of civilians (I am not taking police brutality into account here because that is a whole other matter). People like you and me, who are allowed to buy a gun and do whatever they want with it.

Not to mention the numerous shootings in schools and colleges that have occurred in the past years, where innocent people with brilliant and long futures ahead of them had their lives cut short because of one person’s desire to kill and lenient policy dictating who is allowed to carry firearms. I am often caught wondering if the government (read: Senate, congress, not the president) is waiting for the body count to reach a certain number so that it can actually consider gun control a problem which actually needs to be addressed.

It was appalling to see the Senate reject bills which enforced stricter rules on who could possess guns right after Christina Grimmie was killed and another 49 people lost their lives in Orlando in one weekend. Is your own personal desire to possess a gun more important than all the lives that were lost to this day? I vote no. And it is time those who can actually make a difference vote yes.