Dear President,

Today there are more people that use guns for protection than ever, mostly handguns according to Julie Turkewitz and Troy Giggs from the New York Times. 63% of guns in the United Sates are owned by people who claim they are used for protection (Turkewitz). Handguns are the primary protection gun used in the U.S. and now, in 2016, 42% of guns in households are handguns. In 1994 only 32% of guns in households were handguns.  The number of handguns in households is increasing every year (Turkewitz).

This might seem a little scary having more and more people with guns increasing every year. You probably think that with more guns and the allowing of concealed carry would lead to more deaths and injuries by guns. However, according to a chart shown by Peter Buxtun, more guns and allowing concealed carry leads to less homicides (Burke). The chart is showing that Chicago and Houston have a similar population, size and ethnicity wise, but two things are different. Houston allows concealed carry throughout the city. Chicago does not (Burke). Houston has 84 specialty gun stores and over 1,500 stores that sell guns. (Walmart, K-Mart, etc.) Chicago has no stores that sell guns in the entire city (Burke). You would think that Chicago would have significantly less homicides by guns, but no. Chicago has on average 800 deaths per year created by guns. Houston has only 200 (Burke). That you might think is an unfair comparison because Chicago has a bigger population. Therefore we will compare them as “per 100,000 people”, Chicago's homicides per 100,000 are 28.4, Houston's only 9.6 (Burke). This makes you think, doesn't it? I'll sum it up for you, it's not guns that kill people, it’s people that kill people.

You might also think that all these people that have concealed carry and have all these guns are hunters. However, according to CNS News only 15.9% to 18.1% of the 80 million gun owners are hunters. This would mean that the other about 82% of gun owners use their guns for protection (Hardy). Why do so many people need more protection than their own government is providing? Is it because they are scared of their government? That's the question that you need to answer Mr./Madam President.

Kind Regards,

Mitch

Burke, Patrick. “United States Gun Owners Outnumbered Hunters by 5 to 1 in 2011.” CNSNews, CNSNews, http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/us-gun-owners-outnumbered-hunters-5-1-2011, Febuary 4, 2013.

Hardy, David. “Chicago vs. Houston.” Of Arms and the Law, Of Arms and the Law, http://armsandthelaw.com/archives/2013/04/from_my_friend.php, April 14, 2013.

Turkewitz, Julie, Troy Giggs. “Handguns are the New Home Security.” The New York Times, The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/12/us/handguns-gun-ownership-survey.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fjulie-turkewitz&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=collection, October 14, 2016.