Dear Mister/Madam President,

My name is Sean and I am an eighth grader in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. One of the leading issues in our country today is gun violence and the Second Amendment. More than 30,000 people are shot and killed each year and half of those people are between the ages of 18 and 35. To think that 30,000 people are needlessly losing their lives in our country to guns alone is horrifying. That is about 30 people every day. Losing 30 citizens everyday is equivalent to an average class of students in America suddenly disappearing every single day. As a student myself, I am worried that I could be one of those victims in my own school. According to the Everytown for Gun Safety group, in the past four years, there have been at least 186 school shootings. Not all of this senseless violence can prevented, but it will be your job to support and protect this country. The best way to do that is to protect your people from gun violence with stricter laws and regulations.

The day when a previously convicted felon can walk into a gun show and buy any sort of gun that he wants for any purpose without any form of a background check will be a dark day for the victim. The sad truth is that these sorts of purchases are happening here and now all across the country. According to FactCheck.org, as much as 40% of all guns are obtained without a background check ever being run. According to npr.org, there are about 300 million guns in the United States in all and 40% of that number means that there could be as many 120 million people with guns that have not undergone a proper background check. This presents a great threat to the average citizens of our country and it is not only your job to protect them, but our duty as citizens to protect each other. That is why we have to raise even more awareness about these issues, and I believe that you could help us do that by forming a group or groups dedicated to researching the facts and bringing attention to the details that are truly important. One duty of these groups could be to educate gun owners to keep their weapons in a safe place, such as a safe or locked drawer because according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics about 1.4 million firearms were stolen in recent years. Those guns could be used acts of violence like school shootings and so we must prevent them from being taken in the first place. The most important part of the controversy surrounding the Second Amendment and gun violence is whether or not every person has the right to defend themselves with firearms. People have the right to defend themselves, when in danger, with a weapon, but certain people should not be able to own guns for reasons such as mental disability, history of crime or violence, suspected of being a terrorist. Allowing these types of people to go out and obtain a deadly weapon is a mistake a compromises the security and safety of American citizens. I am not asking you to repeal the Second Amendment, but to do your duty to America and keep us safe from all threats, internal or external.

From, 

Sean