Dear Mr/Mrs. President,

A growing issue that I would like to address is gun control. There are many pros and cons to guns, for example they can be used for protection, but they can also be used to harm other human beings. Guns play a huge role in deaths every year, and many children are harmed too. Even though there are background checks ran on people when purchasing a gun, many people can still buy guns through private dealers without having a background check.

I’m not saying that we have to get rid of guns, I just think that since there has been so many incidents because of them, that we could try and limit gun purchases. Everyone has the right to purchase a gun because of the second amendment, but how many people can purchase should be thought about. I think that people should only be able to own two guns, not any more, in doing so there could reduce how many deaths there are a year. “There were 464,033 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2013: 270,237 suicides (58.2% of total deaths); 174,773 homicides (37.7%); and 9,983 unintentional deaths (2.2%). [4] Guns were the leading cause of death by homicide (66.6% of all homicides) and by suicide (52.2% of all suicides)” (“Should More Gun,” 2016). This information shows the horrible consequences of poor gun use throughout time, and we still have not learned from our mistakes because there are still many casualties everyday.

Most people who want to buy guns to do harm probably wouldn’t buy them through a regular gun store, they would go through private dealers because they don’t run background checks. “Although federal law requires licensed firearms dealers to perform background checks on prospective purchasers and maintain records of all gun sales, it does not require unlicensed “private” sellers to do so. An estimated 40% of all firearms transferred in the U.S. are transferred by unlicensed individuals,” (“Universal Background,” 2016). Having a number as big as 40% talking about guns that were purchased privately should not be that big. We, as a country, should enforce more rules about purchasing guns privately.

Guns shouldn’t be a bad thing, they should be here to help the citizens of the United States feel safer. Instead there are a rise in deaths, and so many more tragedies, like school shootings. I believe by being stricter with how one can purchase a gun than we could greatly reduce all of the deaths every year.

Sincerely,

Averie Nim