My last opinion piece sparked a lot of frustration from readers, and I first want to let you all know that I recognize my mistake in its writing. While my criticism of presidential hopeful Donald Trump was (mostly) intended in a joking manner to spark a conversation about politics, it was still in poor taste that I made such rueful comments without offering facts to back up my opinion. For that, I apologize, and thank those of you who respectfully pointed this out. The topic I approach in this piece will undoubtedly light an even bigger fire, but I hope to present enough facts and credible sources to inspire an informed, intelligent debate about gun control. (To those who will inevitably accuse me of being a flag-burning, liberal Kool-Aid drinker, feel free to sit this one out.)

Here are some facts:

• According to the Mass Shooting Tracker, as of Oct. 2, there have been 296 mass shootings in the United States in 2015, with a mass shooting being defined as a shooting in which four or more victims are injured or killed.

• Of the 296, 16 have occurred in the state of Texas. There have been more mass shootings this year than there have been days, which means on average, at least one mass shooting will occur per day in the United States.

• In the overwhelming majority of cases, according to a study by Mother Jones, the shooters obtained their weapons legally.

• This number does not take into account the number of shootings in which less than four people were injured or killed, or suicides attempted or completed via firearm. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been over 40,000 gun-related incidents (so far) this year, resulting in roughly 10,000 deaths and 20,000 injuries.

• Of the 12 most deadly shootings in the United States, six of them have occurred in the last eight years (according to a Washington Post 2013 report).

President Barack Obama has addressed the nation 15 times regarding mass shootings, most recently the Oregon shooting that took place last week on a college campus, in which nine people were murdered and the gunman died by suicide. During each address he has called for stricter gun control legislation, and has consistently been shut down by pro-gun members of Congress and the rally cries of (mostly) southern conservatives.

Even suggestions for modest regulation have been blocked by powerful lobbying groups and persuasive arguments from the NRA (National Rifle Association). On April 17, the US Senate rejected a plan to expand background checks and ban some semi-automatic weapons that are modeled after military equipment. According to a CNN report, Obama criticized the NRA for using its power to shut down a proposal that a strong majority (90 percent) of Americans had supported, asking Congress, “Who are we here to represent?”

Opponents of gun control insist that guns don’t kill people – people kill people. In the aftermath of the Oregon shooting last week, several presidential candidates seeking the GOP (Republican National Committee) nomination, including Donald Trump, Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson, made statements attributing the tragedy to the poor mental health of the gunman, a common response to criticism of firearm possession. However, the American Journal of Public Health reported in Feb. 2015 that less than 5 percent of gun-related killings are committed by people diagnosed with mental health disorders, and the Annals of Epidemiology reported in May 2015 that the large majority of mentally ill individuals in the United States are non-violent, and are in fact more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators. The mentally ill can no longer be our scapegoats.

The time has come to stop denying it, you guys – stricter firearm regulation would decrease the number of mass shootings occurring in the United States. In 2011, economist Richard Florida found that states with tighter gun control laws (including assault weapon bans, safe storage requirements, and trigger locks) had fewer gun-related deaths, period. In addition, Florida found no correlation between gun death and mental illness.

A report by CNN revealed that multiple developed countries around the world have found massive success with gun regulation. The risk of dying by gunshot in Australia has dropped by over 50 percent since 1996, after a 35-victim massacre led to a ban on high-caliber rifles and shotguns, licensing was tightened and the country sponsored a buyback that removed over 650,000 weapons from circulation. Suicide by firearm was reduced by more than 80 percent as well. In Finland, following a mass shooting in 2007, applicants for handgun licenses are required to have been a member of a gun club for at least one year, and licenses must be reviewed every five years. Other countries like the United Kingdom and Norway have instituted stricter regulations in response to mass shootings, which begs the question – why hasn’t America?

Why, in response to thousands of deaths by firearm, have we continued shouting down legislation as though our very livelihoods were at stake?

“When Americans are killed in mine disasters, we work to make mines safer,” said Obama, responding to the killings in Oregon. “When Americans are killed in floods and hurricanes, we make communities safer. When roads are unsafe, we fix them to reduce auto fatalities. We have seatbelt laws because we know it saves lives. So the notion that gun violence is somehow different, that our freedom and our Constitution prohibits any modest regulation of how we use a deadly weapon, when there are law-abiding gun owners all across the country who could hunt and protect their families and do everything they do under such regulations, doesn’t make sense.”

These are the facts, Texans. I beg you to consider this – are we staunchly pro-gun in this state because we truly believe that guns reduce violence, or because we have been raised in a southern society that fears any sort of interference by the national government? Is disagreeing with Obama and the democratic agenda reason enough to gridlock attempts to make our country safer?

There are 81 days left in 2015, which means statistically, we can expect at least 81 more mass shootings before New Years. This is a matter that we as Americans desperately need to find common ground on. Accept the facts as facts and let’s start talking about how to save lives.