Avery Firsich

Mr.Smith

English 11 Honors

10/28/16

Civilize Guns

Dear future president,

“To conquer a nation, you must first disarm its citizens”

-unknown

Guns. Guns are one of the most controversial issues in the United States today. So, it can be assumed that the next president has already given the topic a great deal of thought. The purpose of this letter is to convince you to take into consideration what I am about to present to you. What I am to suggest may not be a solution, but information to help you to conceive a solution. Guns are controversial so a direct blow to the far left or right won’t work. I want to explain to you how assault weapons need to have a second look. While doing this I want to recommend caution when passing new laws. Guns don’t need to become illegal, and they don’t need to become without regulations. Gun laws need to be standardized, and assault weapons need an absolute. You need to protect our rights while also protecting our safety. I believe that placing a limit on assault weapons will solve many problems plaguing our country today.

Assault weapons, the most deadly of the guns, there is a plethora of these guns on our streets. An argument that they are necessary is a fragile one. Assault weapons, such as the Ar 15, were the main weapon used in the most recent mass shootings in America. Marc Cooper a journalist for the L.A Weekly said “The single greatest inconvenient truth in the totality of the gun issue is that mass killings of the sort carried out in Roseburg, Oregon or Newtown, Connecticut are absolute outliers.”(Cooper 14). Here is the first transparent solution. How do you stop if not all but most mass shootings? You make the weapons that cause them illegal. America’s police force is becoming increasingly militarized. As more assault weapons are sold the problem with cops gets worse.

Militarization of America's police force is controversial and has been a result of the increased threats in our nation. In response to the increased threat caused by 9/11, school shootings, etc have pushed our police forces to become more like a military than a civilian police force. For example, a American scholar by the name of Robert Wilson said “it's time for police officers to start demanding gun laws that could end up saving their own lives.”(Wilson 1). In reference of the fact of the armor piercing rounds for assault weapons that are legal have caused cops to protest. Cops wear bulletproof vests made to stop regular bullets from harming them, but the new difference is now citizens, like you and me, can get armor piercing rounds that are killing cops. If not clear, this is another reason to propose a solution, and of course it is to place a limit upon assault weapons, and don’t allow armor piercing rounds to be purchasable.

Now at this point it might be abundantly clear that you the next president that maybe guns should be illegal all together, which only speaks on one issue. Making guns illegal wouldn’t be easy and would cause an uproar in our nation. In Robert Wilson’s article “Common Sense” he said “Democrats lost a net 54 seats in the House and eight in the Senate. Clinton said the vote on guns "devastated" his party's majorities in 1994 and probably hurt Al Gore's chances of winning the White House in 2000.” (Wilson 1). If not clear the statement was clear, going after guns as aggressively as Bill Clinton had is political suicide. Americans don’t like you telling them what they can’t do if they don’t feel there is a good enough question. There is no doubt any action on guns would need to be equivocal, a law that would be approvable by both majorities in the Congress, multiple smaller changes to make a large one would be easier for the American people to swallow.

As now know the gun issue isn’t a simple one that will require hard work and brilliance to make the changes needed. If you aren’t convinced that getting rid of guns is a bad idea, allow me to convince you. The quote I started this paper off with was said by not a unknown person but a very famous dictator, Adolf Hitler. A man studied and blasted into our youth as a atrocious man who was responsible for the Holocaust. He said it himself disarming citizens makes them vulnerable, and that may be a reason there is such a strong opposition to the gun law changes.

In closing, gun laws need agreeable reform. Assault weapons need limits and they need to be limited per capita, no American needs a large amount of assault weapons that are the main weapon for the mass shootings that kill our children. In response to the violence our police in charge of our safety have become increasingly militarized causing more conflict. Back to the quote that starts this paper, the person who said that isn’t unknown, it’s a very well known fascist Adolf Hitler. So, to the next president of this great nation please don’t take away America’s right to guns, instead make practical changes that are understandable for Americans. Protect the 2nd Amendment, instead of destroying it, refine it.

Works Cited

Cooper, Marc. “Gun Control Is a Misfire.” American Conservative, American Conservative, 2016. Inspire, eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=dda893f5-072d-48d8-b9d4-fe4de6c8c468%40sessionmgr4010&vid=4&hid=4111. Excerpt originally published in American Conservative, Mar.-Apr. 2016, pp. 12-20. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

Wilson, Robert. “Common sense: It’s time for police officers to start demanding gun laws that could end up saving their own lives.” Phi Beta Kappa Society, Phi Beta Kappa Society, 2016, pp. 4-18. Inspire, eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=13&sid=0f7efae5-15e1-4469-b74a-2cc2caa85bb9%40sessionmgr4010&hid=4111&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWNvb2tpZSxnZW8sdXJsLGlwJmdlb2N1c3RpZD1zODQ3NTc0MSZzaXRlPWVkcy1saXZlJnNjb3BlPXNpdGU%3d#AN=edsgcl.447164282&db=edsgbc. Excerpt originally published in The American Scholar, 2016, pp. 4-18. Accessed 29 Oct. 2016.