Gun Control

Dear Next President, My name is Matthew, and I go to school in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. I would like to inform you about gun violence and what we should do to stop it. From 1999 to 2013, there were 464,033 gun deaths. We need to reduce this number by adding more laws to increase the amount of background checks and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazine weapons. The Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, should be updated because times have changed since the 1700’s. Today, we do not have to worry about protecting ourselves from another country because we have a full-time military. For the most part, back then you were not able to shoot more than two shots before the gun would have to be reloaded. Whereas today, a person can fire anywhere between 50 and a about 100 shots before having to reload. Also, there were no silencers or flash suppressors to make the shot quieter and less visible. The death rate during mass shootings from 1982 to 2012 rose 63% and the injury rate rose 156% when high-capacity magazines were used, according to a Mother Jones report. I am not saying that the Second Amendment should be completely removed because I understand that people are hunters, but there is no need for a regular citizen to own a military-grade assault weapon with a high-capacity magazine. Assault weapons are not needed to hunt. If we ban guns with high-capacity magazines, we can reduce the number of mass shootings and gun deaths. According to ProCon.org, 56% of adults approve of banning assault weapons. Buying a gun in America is way too easy right now. We need to have background checks for all gun sales, including guns bought at gun shows. If we can control gun sales and improve background checks, we can prevent criminals and people who should not have guns from buying guns. Nobody will have to worry about being attacked by a person with a gun, like they do now, if there are more background checks. As the next president, it is your responsibility to find a solution to gun violence. What you can do to get rid of these issues is address them to our country so that our citizens can be taught the consequences of gun violence and stop using guns in the wrong way. You need to propose laws to reduce mass shootings, such as bans on high-capacity magazine guns and detailed background checks for all gun sales. Sincerely, Matthew