Firearms and gunpowder are near and dear to American culture, there is no denying that fact. We revel in watching firefights and explosions on the big screen, and believe both our heroes and villains become more badass because of their armaments. Unfortunately, the United States history of gun violence within recent years tells a different reality about guns.

Americans need to call for a stronger, federal approach to enforcing gun control across all fifty states. The current federal regulations constricting guns leave millions of American citizens at risk, and cannot depend solely on states to address gun violence individually.

Americans are gunned down by the thousands year after year because of gun violence, far more than any other developed country. In the US, gun violence claims over 11,000 victims each year, or 3.5 deaths per 100,000 people. By contrast, Germany, which ranks 4th in gun ownership behind Switzerland and Finland, experiences 0.07 deaths per 100,000 people.

Our painfully frequent mass shootings feeds into a cycle of violence that will not end unless a stricter approach is adopted. It has been over a month since the shooting at Las Vegas which killed over 100 innocent concertgoers. There have been over 400 mass shootings so far in 2017 that involved at least 4 innocent civilians who were either killed or injured – more mass shootings than days in 2017 so far.These tragic shootings that happen year after year never seem to get anything done at the federal level. What happens instead is the broadcasting of mass shootings only scares citizens into buying more guns in order to protect themselves, in the absence of federal regulation. The United States owns almost half of the world’s guns worldwide, and there are more privately owned guns than American citizens.

Leaving guns as they are stifles the solution to gun violence in America, and only causes more tragedy. More guns means more gun violence, period. By state, the percentage of household gun ownership scales up with gun deaths per 100,000 people. When Missouri repealed its background check law in 2007, homicides rose by 25%. Conversely, when Connecticut tightened its handgun laws, homicides dropped by 40%.

It is true that, since 1994, gun ownership has gone up while gun violence has gone down. However, this is more attributed to an increase of the police force nationwide and the modernization of those police departments through digital technologies and profiling. It is these new technologies that have stemmed the tide of gun violence, despite the growing adoption of guns after every national tragedy reported in the media.

American citizens are often afraid or unsettled by their own police, rather than feeling more safe thanks to their presence. This is obvious when considering the multiple national incidents with police violence the nation has experienced.

On the other side of the same coin, the copious amounts of guns owned by American citizens makes police officers more afraid for their well-being, both on and off the clock. A civilian population armed to the teeth only results in a more militarized police force and higher rates of gun violence. It encourages them to adopt heavier handed countermeasures in order to keep themselves safe, instead of prioritizing the safety of American citizens.

After all is said and done, guns in the United States have led to an inexcusable amount of violence across the nation. While mass tragedies such as the attack in Los Angeles may be unavoidable, the only way to make real, permanent change into preventing gun violence is to enact gun control on the federal level of government, and pass policies that are already popular among American citizens. Universal background checks, raising gun ownership age to 21, banning the possession of guns by anyone with a domestic violence protection order, and other small restrictions on guns are modest examples of gun control that will lower the rate of gun violence across the United States.