Dear Next President,

The U.S. faces a serious issue. How we can be one of the greatest countries on earth, yet face this rare dilemma? Beyond me. Murder. Many people die because of random, unnecessary violence caused by people making horrible choices. While there’s no way to find and stop the people who are making those choices, there are ways to make it harder for just anyone to walk just anywhere and buy a gun. You have the choice to sit around and do nothing, blaming it on Congress, or you can do something about millions of people dying. On paper the choice should be easy right? I get that it’s going to be harder than I could imagine for you, but that’s why I’m not the adult here. And that same reason is why you need to be someone I can look up to, and this is why you need to make sure me-and others kids like me- don’t have to grow up in a world suffocated and tainted with death. On paper the choice should be easy right? You have a choice. Pick the one which reduces grief.

Around 13, 300 innocent lives were taken too early in 2015. Around 27, 000 people were injured. Imagine never walking again, running, throwing a ball, playing your favorite game/sport/hobby. This is what they face for the rest of their lives. Even though it’s a major issue, we don’t think about nearly as much as we should. Paying attention to our tomorrow, which is understandable, but what about all those people who no longer have a tomorrow? It’s so easy, too easy, to walk into a gun store, have a “proper background check,” and purchase a gun.The check takes a matter of minutes, and denials are very rare, occurring less than one percent of the time, according to the FBI website. This is not even including gun shows, in which you don’t legally need a background check for, meaning literally anyone out there can buy a gun for themselves unquestioned/unchallenged. Most Americans live somewhere near a gun show.What if the next person to buy a gun at a gun show was a terrorist? What then? It’s so simple nowadays to to just buy these weapons of potential great danger in the wrong hands, and something should be done about it.

Now the other end of the argument is valid and very important as well. It is true that in the careful, proper hands, a gun is a tool and not a weapon. In the Second Amendment, an individual’s right to own a firearm is protected, and it states that it should “not be infringed”. All of what was previously mentioned is definitely and completely correct. Attacking the 2nd Amendment should not be anyone’s goal. But did you know that people who have dealt with drugs and have had infractions in the past were able to breeze through background checks and cause violence? A good example is Dylann Root, the murder of the church shooting at Charleston SC.

“At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this kind of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It is in our power to do something about it.”-Obama

C’mon Mr./Madam President!

                                                                    AMERICA IS BETTER THAN THIS!

Passionately,

Rediate D.