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It has been almost two weeks since the nation was shook by the shooting of Congresswoman Gabriella Giffords in Arizona. Six people, including a child, were killed, and 13 others were injured, bringing the entire country into mourning. The gunman is in custody, yet although many attempts have been made, the question of what or whom to blame hangs unanswered.

While politicians were grappling with how best to respond to the event, one man was shot in Washington D.C., another in Rochester Hills, Mich., three more in Baltimore, and another in Los Angeles. Those six people were just a fraction of those who were shot in the U.S in the 24 hours after the Tucson tragedy. If nothing else, crime was back to business as usual.

While the country’s eyes and television screens were still tuned to the unfolding drama in Arizona, the year’s second school shooting occurred. On Tuesday, two students were injured, one critically, at Gardena High School in Los Angeles. Officials are calling the incident accidental because a gun went off in a student’s backpack. The student allegedly stole the gun from his stepfather.

Earlier this month, a student at Millard South High School in Omaha, Neb., also stole a gun from his father. He used it to shoot school administrators, killing his assistant principal and injuring his principal. After fleeing the scene, he turned the gun on himself.

Many on the pro-gun side have argued it is not guns that kill people, but people who kill people. Putting aside for a moment the absurdity of that claim, the fact of the matter is that in the U.S, both the number of guns and of people with access to them are growing. The NRA claims there are 70-80 million gun owners in this country of nearly 300 million guns. Put another way, there are 90 guns for every 100 citizens.

Guns, by themselves, do not kill people. Neither do knives, ropes or poisons. Each of these things requires some human effort to cause harm. Yet although guns require effort to kill, they have no other purpose; they are designed to be deadly. With the flick of a finger, every gun has the capacity to kill as many people as it has bullets – if the clip is reloaded the number can grow infinitely. If one gun can kill an infinite number of people, think of what 300 million can do.

I must admit that statement was a tad hyperbolic. In truth, the majority of those who own a gun will never use it to kill, or even harm, another person. Most of the guns in the U.S are for hunting, with one measly third being handguns. There are only 100 million handguns across the country, and everyone knows they’re only used in self-defense. Handguns are bought for protection only.

But what happens when the guns of the innocent majority find their way into the hands of the crooked minority? What happens when sons of honest men steal their guns to do wrong? What happens when the system designed to allow upstanding citizens to exercise their right to bare arms is abused?

Crime happens. School shootings happen. Tragedies like the one in Tucson happen.

Each of these things can be committed with legally bought guns. All 300 million of them.

The time to examine gun law in the United States is not now. It was April 16, 2007. It was November 5, 2009. It was April 20, 1999. It was two weeks ago. It was every single day someone was shot that shouldn’t have been. Guns may not kill people on their own, but the few that wouldn’t flinch at shooting to kill make the fact that this country is armed to the teeth terrifying.

“Because beauty is power the way money is power the way a loaded gun is power.” is a Chuck Palahniuk quote I haven’t been able to forget. In this country, a loaded gun is quite possibly the most powerful thing you can have. We need to figure out why if a gun is so powerful, 300 million of them should be scattered across the country legally. The question is not whether our gun policy needs a second look, it is clear it is not perfect. Instead, the question is how many lost lives it will take to inspire policymakers to fix it.

Allegra Dimperio ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in journalism.