On Wednesday, Feb 14, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 students in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Cruz used an AR-15 rifle, which was made for military use, and carried smoke grenades.

Nikolas Cruz obtained his weapons legally. According to Florida’s gun regulations, once the owner turns 18 a permit or license is not required to carry a rifle or shotgun (although a permit is necessary to carry a handgun) nor is it necessary to register a firearm. In addition, an individual may purchase as many firearms as they want at a time.

On Sunday morning, the survivors of the Florida school shooting announced their “March for Our Lives” in Washington, DC on March 24, 2018. This demonstration is being held not only in memory of the victims of the terrible shooting that took place last week, but also to encourage a change in gun regulation in The United States.

According to CNN, America has more mass shootings than any other nation in the world.

This isn’t surprising, given that in 2018 alone, there have been 17 armed incidents in schools.

Parkland, Florida is the deadliest school shooting since the one that took place in Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, and there have been many other horrific mass shootings since— such as the 50 people were killed in Orlando in 2016 and the 59 that were killed in Las Vegas in 2017.

After the shooting on Wednesday, Senator Chris Murphy spoke out, saying “this happens nowhere else other than the United States of America, this epidemic of mass slaughter, the scourge of school shooting after school shooting. We are responsible for a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else.”

He’s right. If we want to compare our country to Australia, for example, there were 4 mass shootings between 1987 and 1996. Australians demonstrated their concern for the lack of gun regulation and their parliament passed stricter gun laws. There hasn’t been a mass shooting since.

As for the mental illness debate? I won’t deny that it can play a role. However, our president has made it even easier for those with psychological disorders to obtain arms.

On March 15th, Donald Trump tweeted “so many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!”

Although he’s implying that Nikolas Cruz’s mental stability triggered his will to kill 17 students, last February Trump signed an order that made it easier for those with mental illnesses to obtain firearms.

It’s evident that America is the only country in the world to have a significant issue with the responsible use of weapons. It’s also apparent that many innocent people are dying by the masses because of our government’s unwillingness to take action –too many people have died because of a lack of gun regulation, and unless there are more restrictions put into place, more may suffer the same fate.

We need to stop mourning and moving on. Instead, we need to join the survivors of the Parkland shooting and change legislation. Join me and many others in the Loyola community on March 24^th to support those hurt by mass shootings and support their efforts to stop any future tragedies.