The flag on Main Street is once again at half-staff, where it was scheduled to remain until sunset on June 16, honoring victims of the June 12 massacre in Orlando, Fla.

President Obama has called the tragedy at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando an act of terror and of hate. Nearly 50 people died, and as many were wounded in this attack by a singular gunman wielding a handgun - and a .223 caliber AR-type rifle.

It is terror and it is hate, but gun violence is also an epidemic public health issue that kills Americans in numbers that, were it in the form of a virus, would have long ago been addressed. Laws and health measures would have been put in place to reduce or eradicate any other menace that threatened tens of thousands of people each year.

Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School murders on December 14, 2012, Newtown residents and people nationwide have asked, "What does it take to implement common sense gun laws to reduce gun violence?"

We know that it takes more than the deaths of small children and educators. It takes more than the deaths of people at work and at play.

What it takes are lawmakers unafraid to stand up to a powerful gun lobby and a minority that confuses rights with might.

Assault-style firearms have been the weapon of choice in dozens of mass tragedies in the United States, including Aurora, Colo., Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, Calif., and again in Orlando. Civilian possession of firearms that allow a shooter to fire numerous bullets in a short amount of time, before reloading, should not be allowed.

Iterations of weapons once intended for military use are now easily available to anyone who passes a background check, has the money and is of age. This include the hobbyist who finds sport in firing a powerful rifle, as well as those who plan to create a scene of agony and terror.

Criminals will always find ways to commit crimes, and when supported by organized groups, those with criminal intent will be armed. Outlawing civilian possession of semiautomatic firearms would make it more difficult for the individual who for reasons of poor mental health, misguided religious interpretation or who is filled with hate to commit the heinous crimes that are numbingly familiar in this country.

There is no insidious plan to take away guns from responsible gun owners. As many of those who use guns responsibly will say, the kinds of guns that are designed to kill people efficiently are not necessary for their purposes. Enthusiasts who enjoy the sport of shooting could have access to these guns by storing them and purchasing ammunition at a shooting range, the only place civilians should be able to play soldier.

There are weapons that have been deemed too dangerous to be in the hands of everyday people, and semiautomatic firearms and high capacity ammunition magazines should once again be added to that list.

"We have to decide if that's the kind of country we want to be," President Obama said on Sunday, referring to easy access to powerful weapons used to massacre fellow citizens. Let us make the decision that our country will not be defined in this way.

Demand that lawmakers see to it that AR-type semiautomatic rifles no longer be allowed in the arsenal of the guy next door.

We are Orlando. We are Sandy Hook. We are America.