Future President,

Imagine living in a poor neighborhood in Chicago, and every day you have to say goodbye to your 9-year-old child as he walks to school. Each day you do this, you never know whether or not you’ll ever see him again. This is how many parents feel in America, and is due to a rising gun ownership rates, which must stop. I presume that we should do a heavy background check on a person before they buy a gun, raise the price of guns, and ban selling any automatic rifles or shotguns.

According to Deseret News, “The country has approximately 35-40% of civilian owned guns worldwide.” This number is astounding given the fact that we only make up 5% of the world’s population. The same site also put the US at #1 for gun ownership, with about “88.8 guns per 100 people,” a number more than Iraq ( #6 ), a war-stricken country. I believe that we could help decrease the amount of guns owned in the US by raising the price of a firearm by 200%, which would greatly limit the type of people buying a firearm. While some people may say that this will stop them from being protected by other people, they wouldn’t need to be protected if there was a small amount of guns in circulation.

     - A gun like this may only cost up to 700$ to purchase, but can be used for mass murder.

In an article published by the FBI Homicide Database, “In 2014, about 8100 of the 11,900 homicides were committed by firearms.” However, people may state that most of the homicides and mass shootings in the US are committed by illegal firearms; but, in a survey run by NBC News, “More than 80% of all guns used in mass shootings over the last 3 decades were obtained legally.” We could fix this problem if we were to use extreme background checks on those who wish to buy a gun. These examinations would include mental, history of dangerous activity and recent online activity checks. It wouldn’t matter whether or not this process were to take a day or a week, because if you want a gun, there should be no need for you to be in a rush to get one.

On December 2nd, 2015, 2 individuals committed a terrorist attack in California, now known as the San Bernardino shooting. This shooting was conducted with legally bought guns, which consisted of, according to NBC News, “2 .223 automatic rifles and 2 semi-automatic pistols.” These military-approved weapons never should’ve fallen into a civilians’ hands. When selling these weapons, what would a producer assume? These weapons aren’t just for hunting or protection, they’re killing machines and should never be in the hands of a civilian, even for defense reasons.

Hopefully, you will consider what I have stated, Mr./Mrs. President. Guns shouldn’t be in just any random person’s hands. They should be quite expensive, monitored, and limited to a style of the gun a person could buy. I hope that you express deep concern in this growing issue and make the right decision that could save a countless number of lives.

With Deepest Concern,

Patrick

Owen, Bethan. “15 Nations with the Highest Gun Ownership | Deseret News.”DeseretNews.com, http://www.deseretnews.com/top/2519/0/15-nations-with-the-highest-gun-ownership.html.

Https://www.facebook.com/elizabethNBCNews. "More Than 80 Percent of Guns Used in Mass Shootings Obtained Legally." NBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.

“Expanded Homicide Data Table 8.” FBI Database, https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/expanded-homicide-data/expanded_homicide_data_table_8_murder_victims_by_weapon_2010-2014.xls.

"M4 Carbine." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

@Nationofchange. “Reframing and Preventing American Gun Violence - NationofChange | Progressive Change Through Positive Action.” NationofChange Progressive Change Through Positive Action, 19 Nov. 2015, http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/11/19/reframing-and-preventing-american-gun-violence/.