On Aug. 27, the United States experienced yet another school shooting — this time at a Catholic elementary school in Minneapolis. Despite gun violence being the number one cause of death for children and teens in America, meaningful legislative change remains stagnant. The truth is hard to ignore: America continues to sacrifice its children in favor of gun rights.

To me, the root of the issue has always been clear. It’s the guns. The data support this. The states with the highest firearm mortality rates are Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Wyoming. These same states also have some of the weakest gun control laws. In the years since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Congress has failed to pass a major gun-control bill. The last significant federal legislation addressing firearms — the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban — expired over two decades ago. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has since wielded enough influence to prevent similar legislation from gaining traction.

When we look abroad, the comparison becomes even more damning. Take Switzerland. Gun ownership is legal there, but it’s regulated… citizens must obtain a permit, pass background checks and meet strict criteria. The result? Switzerland has not seen a mass shooting since 2001. These regulations are not about stripping citizens of their rights, but about ensuring that the right to bear arms is matched with the responsibility to use them safely.

The most disheartening part of the problem is how little lawmakers care. It feels as though the moment Sandy Hook happened, the possibility for serious reform died alongside those children. Instead of addressing the root of the crisis, political leaders have grown desensitized, offering only hollow condolences and recycled platitudes.

Three arguments consistently surface in discussions about gun reform — each one an attempt to deflect blame or distract from the real issue. But none of them hold up under scrutiny.

The first is mental health. It’s frequently invoked, especially by conservative lawmakers, as the underlying cause of gun violence. And while it’s true that many mass shooters suffer from severe psychological distress, it’s important to consider how disingenuous this argument often is.

The Department of Education just cut $1 billion in funding for school mental health programs. In this most recent shooting, the alleged shooter, Robin Westman, had reportedly written “6 million wasn’t enough” on the firearm, in reference to the Holocaust and wanting to wipe out the Jewish population. 

Westman clearly exhibited signs of extreme mental instability. But this raises a critical question: why was someone with such clear warning signs able to access a deadly weapon?

Addressing mental health is crucial. But using it as an excuse, while simultaneously blocking access to care and resisting regulation, only perpetuates the cycle of violence. The Second Amendment, like all constitutional rights, should be subject to reasonable limits. Responsible Americans seeking firearms for self-defense or sport should still be able to do so. But there must be background checks, permit requirements and restrictions that prevent dangerous individuals from acquiring deadly weapons. If people are the “problem,” why are we giving the “problem” guns?

The second deflection that has gained traction in recent years has been the targeting of transgender individuals. Whenever speculation arises that a shooter may be transgender, certain lawmakers and media figures waste no time framing trans people as threats. It’s part of a broader anti-trans agenda, and it’s as inaccurate as it is harmful. According to a Reuters study, 97% of mass shooters are white, cisgender men. The goal here is not to villainize white men, it is to challenge the bigotry of blaming an entire marginalized community based on isolated incidents. 

Stereotyping and scapegoating transgender individuals only distracts from the real problem: access to guns. It is deeply irresponsible to use national tragedies as a vehicle for discrimination.

Lastly, we must address the phrase that has become synonymous with inaction: “thoughts and prayers.” These words, repeated after every mass shooting, have lost all meaning. They serve as a way for politicians to appear compassionate without actually doing anything to solve the crisis. Of course, it is human to grieve, to mourn and to hope. But thoughts and prayers without policy change are empty. They cannot stop bullets. They cannot save lives. At some point, words must be followed by action.

We’ve reached that point. Enough with the deflections. Enough with the scapegoating. Enough with the excuses. Guns are the problem, plain and simple. Other nations have mental illness. Other nations have ideological extremism. What they don’t have is the same level of access to firearms. America’s unique relationship with guns is costing lives.

Now is the time for common-sense reform. It’s time to implement mandatory background checks, enforce waiting periods, ban high-capacity weapons and hold firearm distributors accountable. If we can regulate who drives a car, who practices medicine or who teaches children, surely we can regulate who owns a tool specifically designed to kill.

The right to life should outweigh the right to own an AR-15. Our children deserve classrooms, not combat zones. The choice is ours. Either continue down this path of predictable tragedy or finally take action to change it. Let’s make it the latter. And let’s do it now.