This year the United States has witnessed 213 mass shootings in just 145 days.

Just two weeks ago, in a predominantly black neighborhood, ten people were killed in a racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.

And this week, in Uvalde, Texas, 19 children and 2 teachers were killed in a mass school shooting. It is the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook. Sadly it is also one of the deadliest attacks in the past ten years in a school.

Mass shootings affect all of us.

As a mom of six kids, it’s hard for me to imagine what parents in Uvalde, Texas are going through right now.

In the past, when I sent my kids to school, it was a feeling of excitement. They were getting to do something special and to learn new things each day. They got to be with their friends and taught by teachers who loved them.

But more and more, over the past few years, I fear for my children as I send them to school.

There’s a security guard at their school and fences and gates surrounding the building. To me, it’s heartbreaking that it has to be that way.

There’s so much talk about gun rights and how they are protected by the constitution. I’m not going to disagree with that.

But there has to be a better way and a system that can protect our children without them feeling that they are in prison behind armed guards and locked gates.

We all need to be part of the solution.

We can start by focusing on mental illness. There needs to be more support for mental health and greater discussions on mental wellness and how to achieve it. And those who severely struggle with mental illness should not have access to guns.

The safety of our children, our family, our friends, and the general community should be our driving force in whatever action we pursue.

The mass shooting in Buffalo was heartbreaking to me.

As I look around the country, hatred against blacks is on the rise. In addition to this, Asian hatred is on the rise and antisemitism. All of these things affect my culturally diverse Jewish family.

As a Jewish mother of both Black and Asian children, I often fear for their lives. Hate crimes are all around us. People are literally being gunned down in mass shootings because of the color of their skin or because of what they believe.

I don’t understand why people can’t accept others for who they are. How can you hate someone who you don’t even know?

To judge someone for what they look like, where they go to school, or for what they believe is not okay. And to hate that person so much that you want to kill them is something I will never understand.

We need to do better. And we need to teach our children to do better.

Mass shootings need more than just our prayers.

I know that there are so many social media posts out there praying for the victims’ families. And I believe that there is absolutely a time for prayers and for reaching out in love when mass shootings happen.

But there are no words that can take away the pain or replace the child or loved one who was lost.

We have to go beyond prayers. We need actual change in our country. We’ve been doing it the same way for so long—and it’s not working.

We need to think outside of the box and do things differently. We owe it to our children and to our loved ones, and to all the victims who have died in mass shootings this year and their families.

So today, I’m going to think about and remember all of the children who were lost in Uvalde, Texas this week. And I’m going to remember all of the people who were lost in Buffalo, New York less than a month ago.

And then I am going to get to work on making a change so that this cannot continue.

We can follow the lead of other countries who are having success.

In April of 2020, there was the deadliest mass shooting in Canada’s history, killing 22 people.

Thoughts and prayers immediately went out to the families and loved ones of the people who were killed in the shooting. But it didn’t stop there.

The biggest thing that happened is that the gun laws were changed. There were certain assault rifles that were banned.

Although Canada is a pro-gun country, they quickly made changes to the laws. They still allowed guns, but they banned certain assault rifles to protect their citizens from the possibility of future mass shootings with those dangerous assault weapons.

Protecting our own citizens should be our central focus.

What is continually happening in this country is unacceptable.

213 mass shootings in 145 days is outrageous! We may only hear about those mass shootings that make the news, but in reality, the statistics prove that there is at least one mass shooting in our country every single day.

Change can happen and it can happen swiftly. Just look at what happened in Canada.

We need to get past the roadblocks that are keeping us stuck and take swift action like they did.

Until we do, more and more of our children and loved ones are going to continue dying.

And that is a terrible tragedy.