CNN's Don Lemon on Wednesday night said action needs to be taken after at least 17 people were killed in a shooting at a Florida high school.

"This is a sickness that has infected the country, unchecked and unfettered gun violence," Lemon said on CNN.

"Today, 17 lives are over, 17 families are torn apart. Parents who sent their children to school this morning — imagine that."

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Lemon said these parents trusted their kids would be safe and teachers trusted they would be safe in their workplace.

"Do you feel safe tonight?" he asked.

Lemon said he thinks with every deadly shooting in this country, the odds of a shooting effecting an individual get worse.

"Every single one of us is just playing the odds, at this point. The odds that in a country of 325 million souls, that we won't be the ones who get hit by the next bullet that starts flying. We won't be the one who gets that phone call about someone you love who did."

"Are you really willing to keep playing those odds?" he asked. "Have we forgotten that life is a gift?"

Lemon called it a "disgrace" that these mass shootings are still happening after so many in the past.

"This is who we are, right, but is this really who we want to be? A country where anybody at anytime could be shot to death?" he said.

"And then when a bunch of people are killed and lives are shattered, we are sad, and maybe angry, and then we forget and we move on until the next time."

Lemon called for people to forget politics. He said we need to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.

"People who oppose gun control will say today's not the day to talk about it. And you know what, they are absolutely right," he said.

"Because the day to talk about it was weeks, months, years or decades ago."

The longtime CNN journalist said he knows America is better than this.

At least 17 people were killed and more wounded on Wednesday in the shooting at a Florida high school.

President Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE on Wednesday offered his condolences to the victims.

Multiple lawmakers have called for Congress to act on guns following multiple past shootings.