In my day out and about I noticed flags at half-staff, which for me always begs the question of, “Why?” Today’s answer, another school shooting. Six more dead. “Thoughts and Prayers,” the vicious cycle we are once again caught in.

Pause for a moment and reflect. People with guns, kill people: 28- Sandy Hook Elementary, N.J.; 50- Pulse Nightclub, Fla.; 17- Stoneman Douglas High School, Fla.; 22-Walmart, El Paso, Texas; 22- Robb Elementary, Uvalde, Texas. We all know the resuscitation. Perhaps there is one that has touched your life. Now, think about the 321 people that will be shot today by people with guns; men, women and children’s lives interrupted.

The NRA promotes the AR-15 as “America’s Rifle,” using its ownership as a smokescreen for patriotism and manliness. Four hundred million (400,000,000) guns are in American homes. America is the gun. We have more guns per capita than any other country by far. What is usually the first thing you hear after a mass killing? They had an AR-15, America’s rifle.

We can and we should enact reasonable and responsible gun laws. The moral cost of every gun death is on our American shoulders. We can and we should enact laws that will protect our children from being murdered or maimed by people with guns. We can and we should make it more difficult for crimes of passion to happen. A wait time should not matter in a responsibly purchased firearm. We can and we should ban all assault rifles.

When our forefathers wrote the Second Amendment, they loaded, shot and waved goodbye if they missed. They could not have envisioned the weaponry available today. We can and we should, because if today isn’t motivation enough, then when?