Dear Future President:

I am Sam Haase, a ninth grade student at The Runnels School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I’m concerned about our country’s gun control policy. Currently, there is no federal law against high capacity clips, which are almost always involved in mass shootings. I propose a law banning high capacity clips greater than twelve rounds for rifles, shotguns, and pistols. This law will also allow citizens to keep their firearms for self defense and hunting.

There have been forty-five mass shootings in the United States involving high capacity clips since 1994 (Masters). These killings could have had much smaller body counts if a law restricting high capacity clips had been in place. Such a law existed from 1994 to 2004, but it only lasted for ten years because it had a ten year time limit. After ten years, Congress voted to end the law (Yablon). Reinstating a law that will not be revoked within a certain time period will greatly reduce gun homicides in our country.

The second amendment of the Constitution gives us the right to bear arms. Although high capacity clips are dangerous, guns themselves are not the problem. Guns save more lives than they take. They are also used for hunting and sport shooting. It is unfair to people who follow current gun laws to ban firearms they use legally.

Even though high capacity clips are dangerous to our country, some people think restricting these accessories is a violation of the second amendment of the Constitution. However, this amendment was written before such clips were available. Mass shootings were not a concern at this time. Furthermore, the second amendment does not include protection of gun accessories. Limiting the sale of dangerous ammunition clips will protect our citizens.

High capacity clips are dangerous for this country’s people. Making ammunition clips over twelve rounds illegal will make our nation a safer place. This law will not violate the second amendment, and it does not affect people who use guns for hunting and self defense purposes. Thank you for reading my letter, and please consider these suggestions.

Sincerely,

Sam Haase

                                                                             Works Cited

Masters, Jonathan. “U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparisons.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on               Foreign Relations, 12 Jan. 2016, http://www.cfr.org/society-and-culture/us-gun-policy-global-                   comparisons/p29735.

Yablon, Alex. “What to Know About Gun Magazine Capacity Limits.” The Trace HighCapacity Gun                     Magazine Bans The Numbers the Opposing Arguments the Unexpected Origin Story Comments,           The Trace, 24 Nov. 2015, https://www.thetrace.org/2015/07/magazine-capacity-limit-explainer/.