Dear Future President,

It’s time to address the elephant in the room of Gun Control. Approximately 136 mass shootings have occurred in 2016 alone, and it is time that America addresses this issue. Is it so hard for both sides of the table to agree on some things that make sense? This seems the case because of extreme arguments on both sides of this controversy. If each stance could be tweaked slightly, there would lie a good plan for you to propose.

The National Rifle Association seems to be the biggest defender of American’s rights to keep their guns. There is nothing wrong with this in itself, but there are multiple flaws when you look into their reasoning. There is the argument of “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” This may be true in a basic sense, but it does have its flaws when it comes to the argument of halting gun control. In short, the biggest shortcoming is the existence of cars and all of the rules and regulations associated with them. Cars themselves never kill people, the people in the car become careless or intoxicated, yet remarkably few people argue with those laws due to the fact that they are proven to help save lives. Another faulty argument is “Criminals will still get guns.” Sure this may be somewhat true, but you may be surprised to know that this argument isn’t always necessarily true. Yes, some criminals will still obtain guns through illegal means, but not all criminals-to-be would be able to obtain a firearm if a little extra gun control was in place. Approximately 59% of incarcerated felons did not carry a firearm when committing a crime simply because it was “Against the Law.”

The other side is far from perfect however. The populus pushing for gun control has no particular main body to focus on. I’m not as worried about the group as much as the overall arguments I’ve heard for gun control over the past few years. A very common argument you have probably heard of is that the second amendment was meant for militia, and not the common citizen. This argument was very clearly refuted in the 2008 Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller when the majority stated that “The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.” Another one that I believe needs to be brought to light are these so called “assault weapons” and their dangers. Gun control advocates conjured the term of assault weapons to strike fear into the hearts of uneducated voters. Often times, these guns are less powerful than many hunting rifles, and are used in recreational hunting and competition shooting. Do you really want to take these firearms away because people are unnecessarily scared of them? How about we compromise and make slightly more strenuous background checks for these so called assault weapons so we can all go home happy? I personally believe that would be a great solution.

Mr. Trump, it is about time we resolve this national dispute in a civilized manner. Now is the time to stop making gun-related issues political instead of common sense. It is in good intentions that I beg you, resolve this issue that has torn our nation in two and tarnished the image of the American dream. I know you’ll be busy in your new position, but this issue definitely deserves a place on your “to do list” while in the oval office. With that, I wish you the best of luck in your new position, and hope that you will realize that the weight of the position that you find yourself and that you will make the most of it.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Harding

Bibliography:

"Gun Control." 2016. Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=true&displayGroupName=Reference&currPage=&scanId=&query=&source=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&mode=view&catId=GALE%7C00000000LVWY&u=lafa43079&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CPC3010999212&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=. Accessed 10 Nov. 2016.

"Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted?" ProCon.org, 28 June 2016, gun-control.procon.org/. Accessed 10 Nov. 2016.