Around two years ago a family friend of mine died at the hand of gun violence at 17 years old with a future ahead of him. It was said to be a drive by shooting, shot three times in the chest, dead at the scene and the killer still unknown.

Imagine losing your best friend, your mom, dad, brother, sister or just anyone close to you all because of an unjust act of violence, taken before their time. You’re left with an empty feeling, grieving, wishing there was something you could have done but deep down you know you couldn’t. You’re just left to think a lot of this gun violence could be put to rest if only the government cared enough to change gun laws.

In countries like England, there have been an estimated 50-60 firearm related deaths per year. On the other hand with the U.S. in 2016 alone there were 38,658 gun related deaths. Broken up 22,938 deaths were due to suicide, 14,415 due to homicide; 71 of those homicides were mass shootings, and 1,303 where other reasons of death. Not to mention there has been well over 90 mass shootings from 1982 to now. Numbers like that should be alarming and have our government questioning the gun control laws we still have from 1791. Instead, corporations and groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) think guns make the country safer and that we need more guns. Yet innocent people, children, small innocent kids are getting killed daily by what they believe is what keeps America safe.

It’s been proven countries with less guns have less deaths due to firearms. The fact that guns are cheap to buy and you can own one as young as 18 with no background check is a problem. A rifle can cost as much as $1,200 and that’s the same price as a Macbook. A handgun costs as much as $200 and that’s about the same price as the Chromebooks that were using right now.

According to the BBC News on Oct. 27 of this year, the NRA spends up to $3 million per year just to influence gun policies. That $3 million could go back into the communities helping keep kids off the street, out of gangs and lower the demand for guns. Which in the long run lowers homicide rates and keeps people out of prisons.

In the long run, if the government really did listen to the citizens and rewrite our gun laws and take them off the streets, I feel like the country would be way more safe than it is now. I feel like if we did background checks before just selling out guns there wouldn’t be so much worry that people with mental disorders or illnesses would own a gun. Dealing with gun violence issues myself makes me feel like we need those stricter gun laws to keep innocent people safe. What do you think should be done about all of America’s gun violence issues?