Dear future President,

It's all over the news, TV, and social media gun violence is commonplace there and we see incidents involving gun violence on them almost every day. Armed robbery, mass shootings, and homicides are repeatedly reported on these sources creating vast controversy over what should be done in order to reduce the amount of gun violence in America. Some people say that the guns used in the crimes are to blame but others say that taking away their guns would be taking away their constitutional rights. Something must be done in order to reduce the amount of gun violence in America but the guns themselves should not be targeted in specific. Guns in America should not be banned for all U.S citizens.

Guns shouldn't be banned for all U.S. citizens because guns aren't the cause for all the gun violence in America. Since guns first became available to the public there has been a problem with people abusing the the power that they are given with a firearm. We see gun violence far too often in our daily lives, it has become a real problem today however a gun can't harm anyone by itself. A gun must have an operator in order for it to be able to harm someone this proves that it's not the guns but the people behind them that are the cause of the issue. These people should be targeted instead of the guns themselves. Likewise in “Teenager’s Killing Inspires Many to Act, but Not on Gun Control” by Richard Fausset, he describes how even if a ban was to be put into act what's there to stop criminals from using other types of violence instead of guns. Richard stated “Criminals will always find a way”. This shows how if a ban were placed on the possession of firearms that instead of guns criminals would use bombs or other weapons to do what the guns did before. Just because a select few people are unable to handle the responsibility of possessing a firearm does not make it fair that everyone else that is able to responsibly handle a firearm is no longer able to because of the small percentage of people that can't. Therefore guns in America should not be banned for all U.S. citizens.

Wouldn't removing all guns in America also remove all the violence that comes along with them? By removing all the guns you may think that would also stop criminals from committing crimes in which guns were used for. However the United States has such an abundance of guns all throughout the country that it would be almost ridiculous in order to remove all of them. In “Split Loyalty for Groups That Back Gun Control” by Jennifer Steinhauer she talks about how many guns the U.S truly has “ Today in America there are approximately 600 million guns in all” This shows just how many guns there are in America and what a difficult task it would be in order to get rid of all guns in public circulation. Even if a ban were put into effect criminals would most definitely still be able to get a hold of illegal guns because it would be almost impossible to be able to get rid of every single gun on U.S. soil. Then the people that do oblige to the laws become an even easier target for criminals because their form of self defense was taken away. Likewise, not being able to remove all guns is a major flaw to the theory that removing all guns will remove all the gun violence in America. There are studies that show certain states that banned a certain type of gun with the perception that gun violence would have gone down in the state compared to when the ban was not in effect. Just like this study “Gun Killings Rise as Controls Ease Across Missouri” by Sabrina Tavernise she shows that “Gun homicides in California rose after the state banned a category of guns, suggesting tighter gun laws were not safer”. This shows how on a small scale restricting guns made no positive effect on the place where guns were restricted so why would it work on a large scale such as on all states in America. Look at a country like France where guns are illegal yet people are still being killed with guns and or a different source of violence. The criminals in France don't have access to guns so they get hold of them illegally or use instead bombs and other weapons. Criminals also get an advantage since law enforcement and other citizens are not as prepared for attacks because guns are illegal and nobody expects anyone to harm them which makes those people more vulnerable. If the bans on guns didn't work in France or California why would they work in America. Something else needs to be done and banning guns is not the answer for curbing all the violence. Stricter guidelines on gun purchases and background checks would be a good start as well as improving how mental illness is treated and managed. So many of the senseless crimes committed in America are a result of mentally ill criminals that fell through the cracks. This is why guns in America should not be banned from all U.S. citizens.

Guns in America should be left as a Constitutional right for some Citizens. Criminals will always be criminals and taking away guns will not fix that. For the rest of Americans they lose their right to bear arms and their self defense against these criminals by taking away guns. However gun violence has become a big problem in America where many innocent people are being killed for no reason. With that I ask the next President of the United States to create a laws that require background checks on gun owners and new gun buyers where if they have a suggestive violent history then those people in specific are then not allowed to possess any weapons. I am not saying this will end all gun violence in America but I do believe that it is a step in the right direction as those who can safely handle a firearm are still allowed to. As for the people who cant aren't able to posses a weapon in order to cut back on the amount of gun violence in America.