WE grew up in a world that has prepared us for mass shootings. Take myself for example, I’m twenty years old, born in 1995 and have been alive for 63 mass shootings in the United States alone.

There seems to be a belief in our country that these shootings affect the victims alone. The rest of us feel sad for a short amount of time, we whisper a prayer, and we keep on living with this mentality that it will never happen to us.

Last week I went on a vacation to Orlando, FL with my family. We were taking my niece to Disney World for the first time. One night after a long day of Mickey Mouse we ate dinner at a local Pizza restaurant. As we left it suddenly all dawned on us that just a block down was Pulse. The nightclub in Orlando that just a couple weeks earlier 49 people had died at. The experience was surreal to say the least. I thought to myself what would I do if I were put in that situation. If I came face to face with a stranger pointing a gun my way, how would I react? If I had a chance, what would I say?

-Between the years of 1982-2016 there have 82 mass shootings in the United States.

-869 victims: that came from nearly every race, religion, sexual preference, and socioeconomic background.

-Killing at least 4 victims every shooting.

-144 of those victims were teenagers or children.

-The oldest victim was 98, youngest eight months

-244 guns

-shooters brought on average 4 guns to each mass shooting

-129 shooters- all but 3 were male, ranging ages 20-49

-27% of the shootings occurred in workplaces, 1 in 8 in schools

(This data taken from Mother Jones; Grant Duwe, author of Mass Murder in the United States: A History)

Rest assured it’s pretty easy to assume that people in our generation carry around a certain anxiety that other generations might not have. Past generations held their own fears (ex. The threat of nuclear attack), but our generation’s fears come true at everyday places: libraries, movie theaters, and schools. Making the mundane and the boring a battleground.

I asked some millennial's to share their opinion with me on the topic. Here is what they had to say about how these recent tragedies have affected THEIR day to day lives.

Male, Age 30, IL

'"Whenever i see mass shootings, i end up thinking the same thing some people are going to want to disarm normal citizens, while bad people will still have guns. The sad fact is the best thing i think we could do to be more secure is be more aware as a generation people aren't aware they are absorbed into their phones most of the time and they don't care about others. People need to do something about it, however at this point there's so much red tape from the politicians that it's impossible to get done what needs to be done. in the end i always come back to this quote "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke"'

Male, Age 20, IL

"I think these mass shootings are just awful. They occur too frequently and honestly they show the ugly side of the world, making people afraid to go out and live. I don't have anxiety about it because for me I won't be afraid to go out and live my life and make a difference. When I get older and have kids I will hope they grow up the same. Not being afraid of the world, seeing that there is still good out there, and they have to sometimes stand up to the bad. I hope they understand that we are all human beings and that everyone has good in them. So the answer is no, I'm not afraid of the world but I do think it's very sad what the world has come to."

Female, Age 20, IL

'"I actually went to a baseball game in the city (Chicago) last weekend and called my dad beforehand to give him the plan of what I was doing.. and the thought crossed my mind that there would be some kind of attack either on the train there or at the ballpark itself. So I told my dad this and he said "I guess that's just the world we live in now, you have to be aware of exits & how to get to them quickly and you have to protect yourself and the people you're with while being aware of your surroundings" so since then, I have been looking at where possible exits might be and am always looking over my shoulder. It is pretty nerve wracking that one has to think about something that horrible happening when they're trying to go out in public & enjoy themselves."'