The recent shooting on Sunday at a Madden video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida where two people died and ten people have been injured has left me, once again, devastated. Mass shootings have risen and have become more frequent in the past few years, and the amount of mass shootings can no longer be tolerated. They should've never been tolerated from day one.

In the past decade, the United States has suffered too many mass shootings alone. From the Parkland High School shooting in earlier this year in which 17 students and faculty died, to the 58 concert goers at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas in 2017. Then you have the deadly mass shooting that happened at a Pulse Nightclub in Orlando in 2016 that left 49 people dead, and the tragic but not forgotten Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 where 27 innocent students and faculty were murdered. These are just a few of the deadly mass shootings that have occurred in the past decade and they're all heart breaking.

As a college student, I am disgusted how these things continue happening in the United States. I don't understand how after so many shootings, there is still nothing being done. This truly is a vicious cycle. We hear about the breaking news, we grieve and then we always try to remember it as we go about our days. However, grieving and mourning is not enough. In order to break this vicious cycle we need change.

As a nation, we need to relook and examine current gun laws that are set in place. I find the Parkland High School students to be inspiring because they taught me to fight and challenge the rules that are set in place. These students have challenged senators and congressional representatives at the White House and have opened my eyes on what it means to be a responsible citizen. It should give us all the push to call and write our elected officials, because sitting and saying that we need change doesn't initiate an urgent response, and these students have shown this time and time again.

In order to break this vicious cycle, we must speak up and be activists as citizens of the United States. Only then will this vicious cycle be broken. We cannot keep waiting for these violent acts to go away because we cannot afford any more innocent lives to be taken away because someone cannot be trusted with a gun. The main moral of these recent shootings is that in order for change, we need to speak up and fight back, and that is why I praise the students at Parkland High School.

My thoughts and prayers go towards the innocent lives that have been lost at the Madden Tournament and to the people who were injured.