Dear Future President:

Gun violence is a major a concern for most people in the U.S. It is easy for people to purchase guns in some states. Innocent people are being killed all the time. The number of deaths have been increasing every year. As the next president, you should make laws to stop people from purchasing guns in America and to stop gun violence from being more and more common.

Gun violence has increased significantly in the last two years. A total of 13,474 people were killed in the United States in 2015 because of gun violence (gunviolencearchive.org). That means there were an average of 36 people who died everyday in that year. In 2016, gun fatalities in every category have increased and the year is not even over. For example, the number of police officer fatalities has increased 35% from 18 deaths in 2015 to 25 (washingtonpost.com). The number of mass shooting deaths have increased 383% from 12 deaths in 2015 to 58 so far this year. (washingtonpost.com). From the data above we find that the fatalities from gun violence are increasing very rapidly from last year and that the mass shooting has even reached a spike. If nobody tries to stop the rising gun violence, there will be more and more deaths.

One reason gun violence is increasing is because of easy access to guns. Besides increasing fatalities, the ability to buy guns easily is helping terrorists. The most serious terrorist attack that happened this year was the mass shooting in an Orlando gay nightclub. 49 people died and 50 people got hurt. The terrorist had a gun license and he bought the gun legally and very easily. Many terrorists buy guns from a friend who has gun licenses or have a gun license themselves. This means that they legally purchased the guns they use to commit a crime. Legislators are giving terrorists more opportunities. Carl Bialik reports that since the September 11th attacks in 2001, “the number of people killed by guns in terror attacks in the U.S. has risen, as has the number of terror attacks involving guns” (fivethirtyeight.com). If we don’t make a new law to control the purchase of guns, we are helping terrorists to attack our home.

People in favor of gun rights argue that owning guns in this country is a right by guaranteed by the constitution and is an effective way to protect ourselves. Gun rights activists argue that if we have guns, at least we have a fighting chance when, for example, robbers get into our houses. Nevertheless, very few people actually use guns to defend themselves against criminals. The Washington Post reports that “for 1 justifiable gun homicide there are 34 criminal homicides [and] 78 suicides” (washingtonpost.com). Guns are rarely used in self-defense compared to the use of gun in homicides and suicides. If we ban the use of guns, we can control violence efficaciously.

In brief, we need stricter laws on gun purchasing to control the growing of the fatalities every year. It is important to prohibit people from buying guns so that terrorists will not be able to buy guns easily to attack people. The prohibition of guns is the most direct and effective way to protect ourselves from gun violence. I hope to see improvements in gun control in the next few years and fewer deaths as a result.