Having a strong opinion towards gun violence had never been my greatest concern. Growing up in the North East allowed for little consideration in regards to needing to buy a gun. Hunting and shooting ranges are not quite as common. The recent news has surrounded occurrences where gun violence is common, and I am asking the question when is it time to speak up?

It was a normal Thursday night in Lafayette, Louisiana. About 20 minutes into the showing of Trainwreck at the local movie theater, a gunman stood up and began firing into the crowd. Two movie-goers were killed. Nine people were injured during this attack. The gunman, who has been identified as John Russel Houser, fired at least 13 times from a handgun. Houser tried to escape after the shooting, but seeing the police caused him to eventually shoot and kill himself.

One week prior to this shooting, a man who shot and killed 12 people in Aurora, Colarado at a movie theater was finally convicted. During this shooting which took place in 2012, shooter James Eagan Holmes set off teargas grenades and shot into the audience. 70 people were injured, as this was a midnight release of a film and the theater was crowded.

August 26, 2015. Newscaster Alison Parker and Cameraman/Photographer Adam Ward were conducting an interview at a shopping center in Moneta, Virginia. Both were killed in an on-air shooting that took place during this interview. The day after the shooting, it came to be known that the shooter was a former disgruntled employee, Vester Lee Flanagan II. He had worked for their company but was fired due to “anger problems.” He recorded himself shooting these two workers, uploaded the video to the internet, and then shot himself.

Just looking at these three examples, although there are plenty more, can show you just what I mean in terms of gun violence. It seems outrageous to me that all of these news stories could happen to any civilian. Simply attending a movie at a movie theater, or going to work one day, can lead to serious injury or death. If activities as normal as these are become dangerous, how can our government continue to allow guns to be sold to the general public? At what point is it time to put our foot down? Should we wait until 10 to 15 more innocent citizens of our country are dead? The laws surrounding gun usage need to be reevaluated, if not for us, for those we have lost. For the movie theater-goers, the newscasters, and the rest of our country.