Rep. Jim Himes spoke with students Thursday at Norwalk Community College regarding gun violence prevention.

Rep. Himes told News 12 that he tries to hold a talk on a college campus every few months because younger voters are the ones really driving these conversations about critical issues.

“Almost every American realizes how severe the gun violence problem is in this country,” he told students. “No other country has the kind of violence we have.”

According to the congressman, 35,000 Americans die every year from gun violence. He says universal background checks and assault weapons bans work to prevent that type of violence outside the United States.

Norwalk Community College is 30 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings took place.

Students at the college expressed their frustration with current gun laws.

“It's just not OK what we're going through anymore,” said one student.

Another student said that going to school shouldn’t be a scary experience.

Rep. Himes, for his part, is choosing to be hopeful. 

“We will get to a world where we are not waking up every single day to yet another story of young people or others being killed by gun violence,” said Rep. Himes.

Rep. Himes says it's important for him to hear the younger generation's ideas and for them to understand how things work at the federal level.