A true tragedy has occurred. No ounce of preparation could have prepared us for the chills and jaw-dropping power that this most recent tragedy in Las Vegas has produced.

I will not speak of the body count. Nor will I speak of the shooter, who, according to his brother “was just a normal guy.” I won’t play into the instant celebrity that people obtain when they decide to take the life of the innocent.

No, today I will speak of how this makes us feel as a nation — sad and completely dumbstruck beyond our wildest dreams. Sad that nothing seems to change after such an event takes place. Dumbstruck by how on earth it has come to this.

President Trump called this most recent tragedy “pure evil” while at the same time calling it a miracle for the response of the police department. It is hard to see how any of this is a miracle.

Nothing about a lone gunman shooting innocent people and then killing himself can be classified as a miracle. This is a tragedy, a smudge on the history of The United States of America. The only miracle here would be if this trend stopped tomorrow.

Only if we decided that as a nation this was a priority. Not something to be swept under the rug after a brief and pointless partisan plea to the nation.

This can no longer be a topic that we bring up at presidential campaigns every four years, where we get the same old arguments and the same old results. No, this is the time we must make a change.

Please, stop the thoughts and prayers and simply acknowledge our flaw. We have a gun problem.

Plain and simple, we have a gun problem in this country. If you can’t see that, well just take a look at yourself. Is the right for a person to own something that was engineered precisely with the intent to kill masses of people, really worth the lives it has cost?

As we all wipe our eyes today, I encourage each and every one of you to call your representative and demand reform on gun laws.

The information is provided below. It is our civic duty to at least try to put an end to the killing that has by now, become just a part of every year.

Congressman Kevin Cramer, offices include Washington, D.C., Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot.

The numbers are listed below.

Washington, D.C.

202-225-2611

Bismarck

701-224-0355

Fargo

701-356-2216

Grand Forks

701-738-4880

Minot

701-839-0255