Dear Future President of the United States of America,

Hello, my name is Jason Katz, and as a concerned student of Staples High School in Connecticut, only thirty minutes away from Sandy Hook Elementary School where a devastating shooting occurred in 2012, I feel that gun violence is out of control. Guns have become so prevalent in our daily lives that my family and I often see a report of a new shooting when we watch CNN in the morning. It is extremely frightening to think that people who are on the no-fly list can purchase a firearm with ease, and that almost nothing is being done to stop it. Now that you are President of the United States, I hope that you thoroughly increase background checks and restrictions on guns because it is unequivocal that they are too lethal to be easily accessed by American citizens.

The ongoing crisis involving gun violence has crossed the line and restrictions must be placed. Gun violence from police officers to mentally ill people on the streets has increased rapidly over these past couple of years, but almost nothing is being done to prevent more from occurring. Guns are being used in various harmful ways throughout the country, and according to the Brady Campaign “306 people are shot by a gun each day in the United States”. The number of people being affected by guns daily is spiraling out of control and the only way to stop it is with increased background checks and restrictions. Also stated by the Brady Campaign, “about 90 percent of crime guns are traced to only five percent of dealers”. If increased background checks are implemented at common gun retailers such as stores and gun shows, less people would be able to purchase a firearm and as a direct result, less dealing would be able to continue in the black market. If these restrictions and enhanced background checks are added, they would hopefully limit and decrease gun violence in the United States.

One of the most alarming parts of the gun violence crisis is that mentally ill people such as Adam Lanza and James Holmes, the perpetrators of the Sandy Hook and Aurora Movie theater shootings, are able to access military grade weapons. As a parent, imagine how heartbreaking it is to find out that your child was murdered at their elementary school or a public movie theater. JoAnn Bacon, the mother of six year old Charlotte Bacon who was killed during the Sandy Hook shooting said, “these were impossible days filled with mistrust, deep grief and avoidance”. Nobody should ever have to experience the grief that JoAnn and her husband Joel live with to this day, and increasing background checks and restrictions on who can purchase guns will prevent tragedies like these from ever arising in the future.

Putting an end to gun violence will not be an easy task, but as President you have the power to save hundreds to thousands of innocent lives and to prevent families all across the nation from finding out that they lost a loved one to gun violence. Even though the second amendment states that people have a right to bear arms, background checks and regulations must be expanded so that citizens of the United States can live without the constant fear that anyone around them could be the next perpetrator of a shooting.

Sincerely,

Jason Katz