On the night of Oct. 1, tragedy struck in Las Vegas. What was suppose to be another country music concert became the deadliest mass shooting in American history. In the matter of a few hours, more than 50 lives were taken and over 500 more were injured. A moment of silence for the victims of the attack was given in Congress the day after. However, several of the Democratic lawmakers, including the two representatives of Massachusetts, walked out, refusing to participate.

Now, many might be outraged at the action. How dare these individuals who are in the House of Representatives, a position of high prestige, refuse to respect the lives lost? I thought it was despicable and disrespectful when first hearing about it. But, looking past the exterior, there’s actually quite a good reason as to why they decided to sit out.

The controversial action of refusing to participate in the moment of silence was met with good reason. Katherine Clark and Seth Moulton, two representatives of Massachusetts, were among those who boycotted in hopes of having Congress actually do something about gun control. Moulton, who is a former Marine and was in Iraq is no stranger to the sound of rifles and bullets flying through the air. However, no one should want to hear it in a populous American city mixed with the fearful sounds of innocent concert goers.

It wasn’t the first time Moulton and Clark decided to sit out of the moment of silence. In 2016, at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, 49 people were killed after an Islamic extremist open fired. The event was the deadliest mass shooting in American history til this past Sunday. Like now, there was also a moment of silence that Moulton refused to take part in, saying that it, “just becomes an excuse for inaction.” Moulton is strongly against the lack of action against gun control and has been vocal about it since the last mass shooting. By, “taking a knee,” like many NFL players do during the National anthem in disapproval of racial inequality, Moulton hopes to once again raise attention towards the injustice.

Congress doesn’t need to waste time on a moment of silence, but rather should use that time to actually fight for stronger gun control. As people who call America our home, it should be upsetting to continuously be told that now is not the time for this or that when it comes to Congress. Those enormous problems that continue to plague our country are never solved because it’s not time. The problem of how easily obtainable those guns and ammunition that Paddock will never be solved until something is done about how easily he was able to obtain them.  When is the time for action? Will it be time after another gunman decided to shoot up our local grocery stores or our nearest playground? How many more mass shooting sprees will have to take place before it is time for something to be done?

If not at some point far in the past, the time should be now. The lawmakers are considered rude to the eyes of some, but as heroes in others. They’re fighting for our safety so another shooting at this extreme won’t happen again. As Moulton stated quite directly on Twitter, “Now is not a moment for silence; it’s a time for action,” and there’s nothing that I could agree with more.