Dear Future President,

I am a 7th Grade student, and I live in Chicago. Gun violence has become a huge problem in our country, especially in my hometown. I wake up every morning knowing that just a few miles south of my house, an innocent person may have been murdered overnight. It is society's job to ensure the lives of human beings.  Guns in the US have gotten out of control. In the USA, gun deaths have increased drastically, and laws are too weak. Thousands of human lives may be saved if we make stronger gun laws.

According to fivethirtyeight.com, 33,000 people are killed in a gun-related incident per year in the US. One third of these deaths are murders. Most of these murders are of young African American men. According to the Time Magazine, Chicago alone had 468 gun deaths in 2015. Almost all of these are murders of young African American men. Some victims have even been children. Laws should be passed to prevent all these deaths.

 First of all, stronger gun laws have been proposed, but have not been passed. Assault rifles are a certain type of gun. These guns can fire many bullets at a time, which makes them extremely dangerous when put into the hands of the wrong person. No one should have these weapons. Only the military should.

Second, when a person buys a gun, there are often no background checks performed. This sometimes leads to tragic results.  These checks will look for records of criminal activity. If we do these, it might prevent many people from being killed.

In some neighborhoods, you are always living in fear of being shot. Some people in those neighborhoods almost never come out of their house because they are always afraid. If we work hard, we might well change that. It is our job as a country to secure and value all citizens' lives.

Sincerely,

Ben S.