In light of recent events I cannot contain my silence any longer, enough is enough. When mass shootings start to become a normality in our world, there's a problem.

I find myself always asking the same thing: Why?

Why does this keep happening, and what are we going to do better this time? Quite frankly, I'm tired of the excuses and people trying to justify the fact that we don't need a firmer gun control policy.

1. "Good people with guns are what stops bad people with guns."

What truly defines a good person with a gun versus a bad person with a gun? Stephen Paddock, Las Vegas shooter, was deemed a good enough guy to purchase over 20 guns.

According to his family, they were extremely taken back by his actions, they never saw this coming from him. According to the owner of the gun shop where Paddock purchased the guns, "all state and federal laws were followed, and an FBI background check took place and was passed by the buyer."

He also added, "All necessary background checks and procedures were followed, as required by local, state, and federal law. He never gave any indication or reason to believe he was unstable or unfit at any time."

But he was unfit nonetheless.

2. "The solution, therefore, is to allow more people to have guns."

No. Just, no.

I came across a comment on an article that suggested: "gun free zones are like advertisements for killers."

That's equally as ridiculous as saying elementary schools are advertisements for pedophiles. See, that sounds preposterous. The way I see it, I should be allowed to attend school, go watch a movie, or attend a concert and feel safe.

Allowing more people to have easy access to guns is just feeding fuel into a fire.

The risk of gun-related incidents would increase throughout the spectrum of misuse (i.e. police-involved shootings, not knowing the proper handling of guns, mass shootings, etc.) to anything emotionally motivated (i.e. clinical depression, jealousy, revenge, etc.) the list just truly goes on and on for what may happen if the access to guns becomes more easily accessible for everyone.

3. "There are people who are always going to slip through the cracks of a background check."

You're not wrong. There will always be people who slip through the cracks. But why can't we work to seal them up instead of accepting that they will "always" be there?

The fact of the matter is that when people like Paddock slip through the cracks and commit heinous crimes like this ––– like Pulse, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, the list goes on and on ––it's also our right to come together to reform a gun policy that helps us make sure this never happens again.

To make sure no one else ever has to go through the burden of losing a loved one. Not you, not your loved ones, not I, not anyone. We need to really take a step back and evaluate everything and figure out how to seal up the cracks allowing people to slip through.

4. "We need to have respect for the 2nd Amendment. It's what our founding fathers wanted."

Listen, in no way am I saying abolish guns entirely.

I understand where you're also coming from, I do. I understand the gist of our second amendment and the right our founding fathers gave us to bear arms.

What I don't think our founding fathers had in mind was a normalization of mass murder for the sake of keeping personal stockpiles of military-grade weaponry.

When the second amendment was created, our country was going through a time where the west was expanding and gaining independence during the revolutionary war.

Our nation at the time was living in a constant fear of an invasion or an attack from the opposing side. I'm a firm believer in the fact that our Founding Fathers never had the intentions of allowing innocent bloodshed of civilians. This amendment was aimed to protect us as a nation.

Statistically speaking, in recent years, the use of automatic weaponry or simply just weaponry and the correlation to mass shootings have been correlated more common than ever. Just 2017 alone, there have been 341 mass shootings and up until now, last year gave us our "worst mass shooting in modern history."

I want it to stop. I don't want another year to pass by only for there to be a next "ever." We need to realize what this amendment was founded on initially, and that is the protection and safety for all by all means.

5. "You're trying to punish responsible gun owners for someone else's actions."

When mass shootings start to become a normality and we begin to become desensitized to that, there's a huge problem. The intentions to reform a gun policy aren't aimed to "punish" anyone.

The biggest goal of reforming gun policy is to make sure nothing like this ever happens again and to ensure the safety of civilians first and foremost.

Nothing personal.

As stated previously, I'm not one for saying abolish guns entirely–– but we need a change. Something needs to be implicated where we can pick up on the red flags as subtle as they may be sometimes and prevent it from escalating further into something more.

6. "I need to own a gun for self-defense."

This argument seems to be the most controversial for a thin line about gun control.

There are people out there who choose to protect oneself with a gun, go through the necessary steps to obtain one, and that's that. Sometimes it's just there locked up in a safe, never touched, because there was never a situation to use it, luckily.

Then there are some people who go through the process to obtain one and have nothing but pure evil motives and intentions.

It's with these people where the issue lies. That's what we're trying to prevent from happening with reforming a better gun policy.

Now, a lot of people like to argue "bad people are always going to get a hold of guns illegally someway."

While I also agree that statement is true, I also believe there will always be infinite loopholes that people will find to argue about. But knowing the loopholes that lay present as open-ended some may be, is enough to make a change about it.

To see where the problems lie, bringing attention to it, and coming together to compromise a solution where nothing bad comes out of this ever again to impact the nation so gravely; That's taking the necessary actions.

My heart aches for the world.

My condolences go out to the lives lost and the loved ones who have to suffer the loss of someone so dear to them. I hope that they find closure and the universe gives nothing but good their way. I hope even more that nothing like this ever happens again, that we realize the steps that need to be taken to prevent something so tragic.