Dear Future President,

          Gun Violence in America has taken a toll on our day to day lives. Many have been directly affected by gun violence or know people who have been directly affected by gun violence. The amount of lives lost is nauseating. The question that remains is “Are the guns actually killing people?” Or is it the shooters? With many different opinions, this is a very controversial topic to gun owners especially.

           Here is what I’m thinking: it is not necessarily the guns that are killing people. It’s the person behind the gun. Whether it be police brutality using guns, terrorist attacks, or even the fact that guns are in the wrong hands, you can’t just look at a gun and tell it to kill someone. We need to face the fact that police need more training with guns and those who intend to own guns need thorough background checks. As a united country, we need to enforce our gun laws, not create new ones.

          An idea some people raise is that if no one has guns, it’s obvious that no one can use them for harm. In the United States, according to the article “America’s Gun Problem Explained,” German Lopez, civilian owned firearms are 88.8 guns per 100 people. Almost one gun for everyone person. We are the number one ranked country for amount of guns per civilian. Second ranked is Yemen, where there are 54.8 guns per 100 people. Almost half of what our ratio is. It is apparent that more guns mean more deaths. For example, from 2000-2010, mass shootings occurred every 200 days in the United States. From 2010-2015, it increased to mass shootings every 64 days. 

          My answer to that idea is yes, guns lead to more deaths, this can all be cut short if we made sure that guns stay out of the wrong hands. Numerous amounts of people use a gun to successfully defend themselves or others. Sixty percent of people conducting these mass shootings have some kind of psychiatric or psychological symptoms. Tewksbury Lab’s studies point out other factors that contribute to gun violence as well, such as substance abuse, poverty and a history of gun violence. There are already laws made to prevent these shootings from happening. But yes, there are loopholes and that is the sad truth. Our future president must demand that these requirements are met.

        In the end, there is an unbelievable amount of gun violence in the United States. Some argue that it is the actual guns killing, but in fact it is the person behind the gun. The NRA declares that creating more gun laws will only affect those who actually abide by the laws. Criminals will be criminals and use illegal guns regardless of the laws. American doesn’t just have a single gun problem, it has many. The way to fix it is to enforce our laws. Our future president must enforce our background checks prior to citizens purchasing guns. Gun control laws do not deter crime; gun ownership deters crime. Banning guns as a whole is an overreaction and an illogical assumption of how to mend this problem. 

Becker, Kyle. "13 Charts Put America's Gun Violence in Perspective." Independent Journal Review. Independent Journal Review, 08 Jan. 2016. Web. 03 Nov. 2016

Lies, By. "VOTE NO QUESTION 1." Stop Bloomberg. Defend Nevada. National Rifle Association of America, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016

"U.S. Most Armed Country with 90 Guns per 100 People." Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 28 Aug. 2007. Web. 03 Nov. 2016