Two Years.

Hannah Ahlers. Heather Alvarado. Dorene Anderson. Carrie Barnette. Jack Beaton. Steve Berger. Candice Bowers. Denise Burditus. Sandy Casey. Andrea Castilla. Denise Cohen. Austin Davis. Thomas Day, Jr. Christiana Duarte. Stacee Etcheber. Brian Fraser. Kari Galvan. Dana Gardner. Angela Gomez. Rocio Guillen Rocha. Charleston Hartfield. Chris Hazencomb. Jennifer Topaz Irvine. Teresa Nicol Kimura. Jessica Klymchuk. Carly Kreibaum. Rhonda LeRocque. Victor Link. Jordan McIldoon. Kelsey Meadows. Calla-Marie Medig. Sonny Melton. Patricia Mestas. Austin Meyer. Adrian Murfitt. Rachael Parker. Jenny Parks. Carrie Parsons. Lisa Patterson. John Phippen. Melissa Ramirez. Jordyn Rivera. Quinton Robbins. Cameron Robinson. Tara Roe. Lisa Romero-Muniz. Chris Roybal. Brett Schwanbeck. Bailey Schweitzer. Laura Shipp. Erick Silva. Susan Smith. Brennan Stewart. Derrick Taylor. Neysa Tonks. Michelle Vo. Kurt von Tillow. Bill Wolfe.

It's been two years since 58 people were ripped from this earth, from their lives, from their families. Two years since another 500 were shot while running for their lives as bullets rained down on them from above. Two years since thousands of lives were fractured forever by the most devastating mass shooting in modern American history.

I sit here today just as angry, just as scared and heartbroken as I was two years ago when I received a call that would forever change my life. I was getting ready for bed after wrapping up my birthday weekend by attending a Seahawks victory against the Colts. My phone rang at 10:23 PM. It was my sister, Katelyn. Something was wrong with my phone and when I answered, I couldn't hear anything. It rang again, same issue. Again. Again. Finally, she video called me through Facebook messenger, and I was met by her sobbing. Through her crying, she said "Alicia was shot! Alicia was shot in Las Vegas!"

I went numb. I felt so empty. I tried to console her - she told me Alicia had made it to the hospital so I responded, morbidly, that if she were going to die she would likely be dead. I called my mom and we made arrangements to fly to Las Vegas the next day.

As my sister and her husband got ready to watch Jason Aldean perform, they decided to move closer to the stage since it was the last night. They had mostly stayed further back but hey, why not enjoy themselves? They were just so happy.

As the music played, they thought they heard fireworks and figured they must be part of the show. Then they heard the screams. And then, the man standing shoulder to shoulder with my brother-in-law fell to the ground after a bullet tore through his head.

As they ran for their lives, instinct told them to dive to the ground. Nick lied on top of Alica to protect her. In a brief period when the gunfire seemed to stop, they got up to run. As they ran, Alicia was struck in the back by one of around 1,100 rounds fired into the crowd. She shouted "I was hit! I was hit!" As people tried to help, all she could do was tell Nick how much she loved him while pleading internally "please don't let me die."

She knew she had it in her to run and try to find safety so they helped her up and they ran toward a barrier. Nick jumped over and helped pull her over, and they kept on running. Nick was yelling "my wife's been shot, I need help, someone help her!" A medic placed gauze over her wound. As Nick used his shirt and shoe to apply pressure to try to stop her bleeding, she texted our mom and grandmother to tell them she had been shot, and asked that they tell her daughters that she loved them very much.

While sitting there, a man on the ground next to her had multiple wounds through his chest. She knew if help came, he would need it more than she did. She tried to calm Nick in all the chaos. She was able to get a ride on an ATV a short distance and had to get off to hide behind another barrier. Eventually, they somehow got her onto a makeshift gurney and made their way toward the road.

They passed triage sites with numerous wounded and dead. People were being carried by on fence panels, in wheel barrows. They came upon a white truck that was full of injured people, and the man driving it let them get in. He raced behind an ambulance to get them to the hospital.

As they entered, there were bodies everywhere; the halls flowed with rivers of blood. They were separated, with Nick being sent to a waiting area and Alicia having her vitals taken and being moved to a hallway with other wounded people. Numbness wore off and the pain from being shot set in. She was finally placed on a stretcher and taken into a room, where a man who was shot in the thigh was also waiting for treatment.

As she cried, the man reached out his hand to comfort her, their hands both covered in blood. She was then taken back for imaging, which showed blood that required they perform surgery to check for organ damage. Fortunately, there was none.

When my mom and I arrived, there was a palpable tension and pain in the air. We found Alicia and Nick in her recovery room. Nick was missing his shoes and his blood-soaked shirt was in a bag on the floor. He still had her blood under his finger nails. Alicia was motionless, unable to move because of the bullet wound in her back and the surgery to check for organ damage.

My sister got lucky - the bullet hit her at a perfect angle and impacted her tail bone, shattering it. An inch or two in any direction and she's at best paralyzed and at worst, dead.

It's been two years.

And so little has changed.

Here's a list of all the Federal legislation related to firearms that have been signed into law since October 1, 2017:

Bump stock ban. That's it. One piece of legislation.

How naive it is to expect that in the face of unspeakable horror, our elected officials might take action. Instead, the people with the power to do something, anything, to reduce death and destruction by way of firearms sit on their hands. Shooting after shooting after shooting after shooting after shooting - politicians can't seem to agree that the current approach isn't working.

Actually, let's make one thing crystal clear: the Republican party is solely responsible for the carnage that happens every single day in America. They've been bought by the NRA and have repeatedly shown us that they're content to watch families bury their loved ones if it means they get checks soaked in the blood of gunshot victims and survivors.

The NRA has done a brilliant job tapping into the insecurities of white American males, convincing them that all they need is a big gun to be seen as powerful and respected. The've sold them the notion that being armed is necessary to uphold a polite society, that being armed will somehow make them Superman when confronted with a home invader or a tyrannical government. Spoiler alert: it doesn't.

All the while, the NRA, the GOP and the millions of wannabe Rambos across the nation hide behind the 2nd Amendment; rather, they hide behind a particular phrase: "shall not be infringed." Apparently the whole "well regulated" piece doesn't really fit into their agenda. The gun guys scream and shout about their rights, the NRA pumps money into the pockets of politicians, and those politicians stonewall legislation that might save lives.

The House of Representatives has passed life saving legislation, and it can't even get a vote in the Senate because of one person (or ghoul. Yes, ghoul): Mitch McConnell. He has blocked every piece of common sense gun legislation from being voted on. My guess is that by not allowing a vote, Republicans aren't forced to put their names behind a "No" vote, and thus they don't have to so directly admit that they value cash more than human life. They say gun violence has no political party, but gun violence prevention certainly does.

To be fair, the conversation has shifted quite a lot, and support for stronger laws is as great as it's ever been. States are working to do their part. But the federal government is failing us.

I was forced into action by the reality that I was a couple inches from losing my sister forever. Three days after the shooting, I wrote a letter that is now part of Congressional Record. I reached out to news stations, begging to talk about gun violence. I went to the nation's capitol to meet with legislators. I testified in support of bills in my state legislature. I've spoken at dozens of events, written Op-Eds, been interviewed. I joined Moms Demand Action and the Everytown Survivor Network. I spent a lot of time talking to anyone who would listen about what happened to my sister.

I've met countless people who have been impacted in so many ways by gun violence. And every single time, I'm left realizing how lucky my family truly is to still be whole.

I feel two things when I think about the work I've done in the past two years. One, I'm proud that I've done as much as I have to try to honor what my sister and her husband experienced that night, as well as the lives of those taken too soon and those forever changed that night. And two, I'm ashamed of myself for not doing anything sooner.

I never wanted to be here. I'd like to think that if my sister wasn't shot I'd still have gotten involved in gun violence prevention, but I don't know if that's true. It's never easy to talk about, but I will every single time if it means someone might be moved to action. I still fumble over the words "my sister was shot in Las Vegas" and I'm sure that's never going to change.

Here's my request: do just a little bit more. Find a way to get involved. The whole world was #VegasStrong in the wake of the shooting. It didn't take long before we were #SoutherlandSpringsStrong, and then #MSDStrong, #SantaFeStrong, expressed solidarity with the #TreeOfLifeSynagogue, and then we were #ThousandOaksStrong. Next, we were #SunTrustStrong, #AuroraStrong (for the second time), #VirginiaBeachStrong, #GilroyStrong, #ElPasoStrong, #DaytonStrong. We're going to have to be #______Strong when the next mass shooting occurs.

I need more than a hashtag. I need you to join an organization like Moms Demand Action. I need you to elevate the stories of victims and survivors, and of their loved ones. I need you to give money to groups, elected officials and candidates fighting for common sense gun legislation, and I need you to vote as though your life depends on it. The stark reality is that it does.

There are 22 Republican Senate seats up for reelection in 2020. If Democrats win the Presidency, picking up just three Republican-held seats would give Dems control of the Senate. If they pick up four seats, they have control regardless. Democratic control of the House and the Senate means laws like the universal background checks legislation would pass and we could actually work to reduce gun violence federally. Many states have adopted stricter gun laws and wouldn't you know it, those laws are working.

Seats in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia (2), Kansas, Kentucky (Mitch F*@#ing McConnell), Iowa, Maine (Susan F*@#ing Collins), Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee are all considered competitive. If you want to make a difference, I suggest you send a few bucks to Democratic candidates running to replace the people currently holding these seats. All the tweets and thoughts and prayers and blustering on social media in the world isn't going to reduce gun violence - it's going to take legislation.

Lastly, please remember that once the headlines pass, as will happen October 2, the pain from this tragedy will remain. The loss, the suffering, the recovering, the PTSD, the financial burdens, all of it sticks around when the media moves on. There will be 58 empty tables for the holidays this year. 58 birthdays missed. The ripple effect from this one day spans the globe. Please remember the victims and survivors of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting.