Most people don’t know I love horror movies. Because they are such a niche, restricted, genre horror movies usually don’t have the luxury of big budgets, and subsequently can’t afford good writers. What ensues is often the most unintentionally funny and awkward dialogue that can be found in all of cinema. This makes the bloodshed hold the same weight as spilled tomato ketchup. I find it so amusing when someone or something tries to be completely serious, but fails in every way. It doesn’t really matter how much violence there is once my suspension of disbelief has ended. It simply does not feel real.

Another thing people don’t know about me is that I’m incredibly afraid of needles. Ever since a particularly bad experience during blood work I had in third grade, I have been unable to give blood without fainting. Just thinking of my own blood flowing through a needle into a tube and then pooling into a plastic bag makes me pale and unsteady. It feels so wrong for me to be able to shrug off the murderous antics of cinema’s various boogeymen only to be brought to my knees as soon as I see a dainty needle.

Many of you are aware that on Sunday October 1st a gunman in Las Vegas killed 58 people and injured hundreds more from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel. This is the largest shooting in US history, resulting in more deaths than even the previous record created last year during the Pulse Nightclub massacre. A common denominator of mass shootings is that regardless of the victims, the locations, or the perpetrators’ intentions very little is done to prevent future incidents from occurring.

That’s the issue in America isn’t it? Bloodshed occurs so often that it doesn’t seem real. When it isn’t our lives or that of someone we know it becomes easy to dismiss the actions of a madman as expected behavior, the new norm. We become outraged when popular media says it’s right to do so, like after Sandy Hook or Orlando, but once that initial emotion fades and the time comes to create a long term solution, we forget, and move on to the newest headline.

It’s easy to feel pain and sadness, but it’s even harder to carry those feelings with you until you have made a change. People today live with the weight of all the world’s tragedies on their shoulders, and because we cannot bear the raw magnitude of events like terrorist attacks and shootings we pretend they are out of our control and just another product of the modern era. I’m not asking for all of us to renounce our vices and become saints in order to stop violence. There are practical courses of action that aren’t dependent on ubiquitous morality, but instead inhibiting the potential for the select few dangerous individuals from making their violent aspirations a reality

Japan is a an example of a nation with a comparable quality of life to the United States as well as many high population centers. The deaths due to gun violence are nearly negligible, often not reaching the double digits (as in you can count the number with both hands). The reason for this is Japan makes it illegal for anyone other than law enforcement personnel to own guns without jumping through a million hoops. The United States has a staggering number in comparison, reaching tens of thousands each year despite only having roughly three times the the population of Japan. Of course gun ownership is a facet of America’s identity along with a great respect for the rights of the individual, but when the rights of some come at the expense of all, there is just cause for a reconsideration of long standing beliefs. When a single individual can grant themselves great power, and use it to harm others who are defenseless it creates a violent and predatory dichotomy much more reminiscent of tyranny than democracy.

All of this is especially overwhelming for us as members of the Hill community. I often joke the moon could crash into the planet and wipe out all life in the eastern hemisphere without me noticing, but I think my hyperbole holds at least some merit. If it’s easy for a person watching CNN or FOX to become desensitized to violence in our country, then think of how much we must be missing while we reside in the Hill Bubble. Regardless of your thoughts and feelings on my views on potential solutions or general interpretation of society, I encourage you to ponder on what you can do now and in the future to help foster a safer nation that values life.