October 20

Dear Next President,

I am writing to you about the issue of gun violence because I have a strong connection to this issue, this once sent me traumatizing times as a kid. Just listen out to all of the numbers and the news. According to Smartgunlaws.org, “In 2010, guns took the lives of 31,076 americans in homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings. This is equivalent of more than 85 deaths each day and more than three deaths each hour”. Again according to procon.org, between 1999 and 2013, there were 270,237 firearm suicides. I feel like we need to make the gun laws more strict, this will help make the U.S. a safer place. When is it going to end? If the U.S. keep going at this rate what will we become in the future? Is the government paying attention to the numbers of people being shot and killed every single day? Make the U.S. a safe place from ourselves, help us feel more comfortable here. There were 33,599 reported gun deaths in 2014, according to CDC data. That’s a rate of 10,54 per 100,000 people, Make the U.S. a safer place.

Imagine if you were nine years old, you and your family is eating dinner while your father is out working and your mom gets a phone call from your Grandma, saying that your father has been shot 17 times and is in critical condition at the hospital. How would this make you feel? I feel like there is life outside of yours and there are people out here going through horrible things everyday. Again, no nine year old should have to go through that. This has to change, life in poverty is the worst struggle anybody could ever go through.In these small cities our epigram is “either your going to end up dead or in jail” coming from these cities. Coming from these cities only a few make it out. My father was blessed to still be alive to this day, but for me it was traumatizing. Nobody in this world should live to see their father walking around with a half of a head for months because he was shot in the head, and a colostomy bag in his stomach because he was shot in his stomach. Nobody in this world deserve that. But then again there are people in this world that go through similar things, sometimes even worse. People are crying out for change, we need change people are in pain.

I don’t believe anybody in this world just have a bad heart and doesn’t care, these people are growing up into this because of what they see everyday in their cities. Losing close friends and family from getting shot, young teenagers that couldn’t live to achieve their goals. Your really blessed to be alive everyday living in these kind of cities. Waking up every morning thanking GOD for another day. They say “what doesn’t kill you make you stronger” but personally i don’t believe that because what doesn’t kill you in these streets, most times make you want to give up. The only solution they have to these problems are sending people to jail, which only give people another reason to give up. Lets try to make change and reduce the number of people we send to jail every year because of gun uses. Living in these cities going through tough situations make you want to give up, but all you can do is pray to GOD for better days. If you are not in these kind of environments than you probably can’t relate but what you can do is imagine and try to make change because anybody knows this isn’t how life should be. People shouldn’t be living to die, they should cherish their lives here on earth. You have to be mentally strong to not give in and do what everyone else is doing because in most cases your parents are struggling and it hurts seeing them cry because they can’t take care of their own children, forcing young kids to grow up faster than they should. You parents take drugs to take the pain away, it’s sad sometimes talking about it because you just think like “wow, this is life”. Looking at the news and every single day somebody is shot dead, multiple shootings a day, multiple teenagers killed or shot, hundreds shot dead everyday. There were 372 shootings in 2015 with over 50 of them being at schools all over the country, kids aren’t safe.

People should feel safe and comfortable in their own cities people are literally walking around scared in these kind of cities and it’s sad that people have to have a gun to feel protected, because then someone has to take someone else’s life. Then people ask why are cops shooting people (not that i agree with that) but because even cops are scared, them having to walk around and drive in these cities it’s not safe. Next president you should focus on making the U.S safe from ourselves because we together are a problem, we should feel like a family. Putting an end to gun violence will solve a lot of these problems we have today. You can do this by trying to move gun stores out of these kinds of cities and moving them far away, making it harder for someone in these cities to get guns, instead there are guns stores everywhere, helping these people kill each other. Also making it more strict on getting guns. Like in Ohio people shouldn’t be able to walk into a gun store and get a gun with just cash, that’s not safe. Gun laws should be more strict in the U.S, to make it harder for criminals to get guns.

In the U.S the gun violence rate is up to 20 times more than in any other developed country(Rose E./ california, “putting an end to gun violence”). Also according to Smartgunlaws.org, “In 2010, guns took the lives of 31,076 americans in homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings. This is equivalent of more than 85 deaths each day and more than three deaths each hour”. These people that are getting shot and killed are people’s fathers, mothers, children, etc.. This hurts people. To have to say “be safe” every time you leave a friend or family member is sad. Teenagers are dying it’s sad. People shouldn’t walk around knowing that today could be their last day, or their last day seeing a family member or close friend. Listen out to the children crying out because their mom or dad was shot and killed. Listen out the the mothers that lose their children at an early age because their son was shot over a basketball game. Try making the gun violence stop. Putting more laws and restriction on getting guns will help. The gun store’s should know who they are giving a gun to. Let’s finally make change, Make the U.S a safer place for everybody

Sincerly,

Elijah Warner