Earlier this month, Barack Obama once again stood on the podium in the White House conference room to give a familiar speech.

His cause was to address the school shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon where 10 students were killed (including the gunman) and nine wounded. His exasperation and anger were easy to perceive.

“I hope and pray that I don’t have to come out again during my tenure as president,” Obama said, “To offer condolences to families in these circumstances.”

These circumstances, unfortunately, are not uncommon. Less than one month prior, a shooting occurred at Sacramento City College, with one dead and two wounded. Shootings, especially school shootings, occur with an alarming frequency in America. The laws that control the purchase of guns are far too relaxed and a change needs to be made.

“”As I said just a few months ago, and I said a few months before that, and I said each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough,” Obama said.

Each month, it’s almost expected that some sort of shooting somewhere will occur. It is clear that a solution to these shootings is needed and the only way for these tragic events to stop is for there to be stricter gun control laws.

Obama prompted America to make gun legislation, denouncing all who doubted its urgency.

For years, Obama and his administration have been pushing for these laws that the United States most definitely needs.

At this point in history, it should not matter whether a person is Democratic or Republican because in the end we are all Americans.

Instead, we should be focused on preventing our own people from being killed as a result of our failure to properly screen gun purchasers.

With a tone of disappointment, Obama pointed out that earlier this year, while being interviewed he had said “America is is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense gun-safety laws — even in the face of repeated mass killings.”

Later that day, a mass shooting occurred in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana killing three and wounding nine. “Somehow this has become routine,” he said, referring to the speech, the press, all that follows a shooting such as this one.

Americans responded to Obama’s speech in several ways. Conservatives argued that Obama’s poignant speech was just him taking advantage of an emotional time for Americans, and that these circumstances shouldn’t change America’s stance on gun control.

They favor more freedom to buy guns, using the constitutional right to bear arms as reasoning. They wager that if people could have their own gun, they wouldn’t have to worry about being vulnerable to attackers, and in circumstances like the public shootings, they could defend themselves.

Liberals believe the opposite. They think that the lack of gun control means just anyone can purchase a gun, including those who are mentally ill, suicidal or homicidal. They think that if things like gun shows continue to exist, with virtually no presence of background checks, people are more at risk for attacks.

Without the laissez-faire method of reasoning, they hope to prevent circumstances like these mass shootings from occurring and therefore erasing the need for people to buy guns in the first place.

The concept makes sense, make it extra hard to get guns and it’ll be extra hard to have things like mass shootings, but the conservatives have one more point to bring up. Outlawing something doesn’t erase it from the country.

An excellent example would be the prohibition era in the 20th century. When alcohol was illegal, the negative adverse effects outweighed the negative effects prior to laws inhibiting people from drinking it.

People didn’t stop drinking it, in fact, many made a career out of smuggling and making alcohol. Crime rates affiliated with alcohol went up, and the law was soon repealed.

The argument extends in a modern era to drugs such as marijuana, and to gun control. If guns are much harder to buy, someone will make it easier. That someone will not necessarily be the most moral or lawful person.

The real question is, would a weaponry black market be preferable to the far too easy access we have to guns today?

Most would agree that teenagers, the mentally disabled and criminals should not be able to procure a gun.

However, this is not the case in the United States. Several of these mass shootings involve suspects that are young and even mentally ill.

“We’ve become numb to this,” Obama said.