In 2010, an average of 85 people in the United States died of gun violence each day. As individuals who are on a college campus and in other public spaces on a daily basis, I believe most of us are well aware of the threat of a gun in the wrong person’s hand and the damage that it can cause.

Last week 45 senators seemed to have either ignored or forgotten these facts. Forty-one republicans and four democrats made up the team that defeated a bill to expand background checks for gun buyers. This piece of legislation was the best hope for gun control as a result of the Newtown massacre back in December.

This means that this horrendous event — one that had the entire nation sitting on the edge of its seat within minutes of the story breaking — did not cause any change in our country. 

Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.” Mass killings continue to happen, yet legislators continue to do nothing.

The defeated legislation proposed expanding background checks for gun buyers. Believe it or not, the National Rifle Association actually supported this at one time, but because it was proposed by Obama and his fellow democrats they can no longer support it. To this association — and other lobby groups — party politics comes before the general well-being of the American public. We can, and should, be outraged.

The arguments these 45 senators came up with were simply atrocious. They used any excuse they could think of, from a raise in taxes, to a slippery slope, to fear of a national gun registry (the failed bill actually prohibited this).

Obama said the senators who made these arguments “willfully lied.”

Gabrielle Giffords, a Congresswoman representing Arizona from 2007 to 2012, was a victim of a shooting rampage in 2011. She now focuses on gun violence. She wrote an editorial for the New York Times last week detailing her disappointment in the Senate. Giffords shared her personal experience and made it clear that if Congress continues to uphold the interests of lobbying groups instead of the safety of our communities, then the citizens will make sure we get a Congress who cares about our communities. Simple as that.

Obama also commented that this is not the last we will hear about this issue by saying, “Sooner or later, we are going to get this right. The memories of these children demand it, and so do the American people.”

According to an ABC/Washington Post Poll between April 11-14, 2013, approximately 86 percent of Americans supported laws that require background checks for potential gun buyers.

If this issue does not disappear in America’s short-term memory and this level of public support continues, we might actually be able to make things change.

If you have any opinion, one way or the other, take some time and do some research so you actually know what you are talking about. After that, find your representative or senator and let them know exactly what you think, whether you are in the majority or the minority. They respond to you. 

We decide if they have a job or not, so they will consider your input. This is what it takes to make change happen. You are more than capable of being part of that change, you just have to choose to be.