GUN CONTROL
Too many people are dying from guns daily, monthly, and yearly. We need to make it harder for people to obtain deadly guns.
“In 2013, firearms were used as the weapon in 68% of homicides.”
Too many people are dying from guns.
Dear future president,
Our country is too much at risk from guns and it only seems to be getting worse. We need your help passing tighter gun control laws.
In 2015, roughly 13,000 people were killed in this country by guns. That’s an average of 36 a day. A DAY! Something must be done. That same year, there were mass shootings in over 100 cities in America. Guns are obviously in the wrong hands. Not all guns, but many.
Tighter gun control laws can help save lives. According to USA Today, in 2007-2010, “states with the most [firearm] laws had a mortality rate 42% lower than those states with the fewest laws….” This shows that gun control laws work!
Maybe we just need to put more focus on gun control. From 2005-2015, a total of 71 Americans were killed in terrorist attacks on US soil. In that time span, over 300,000 were killed by gun violence. While the government has led huge, justifiable attempts to end terrorism, next to nothing has been done on a problem that is claiming many more American’s lives. Terrorism is obviously bad, but if we did half as much as we do for terrorism with gun control, we would be able to prevent lots of deaths.
I get it. The second amendment states that we have the right to bear arms. But this isn’t 1791. Automatic guns can fire up to 650 rounds per minute, more than enough to kill a classroom full of children, as we found out the hard way. Couldn’t we limit the types of guns to ones that maybe people in 1791 would recognize? Or at least restrict the types of guns that should be legal to handguns, which can be used as protection, or larger guns used for hunting.
Better, more thorough background checks are another possible answer. In 2007 when Missouri repealed its “permit-to-purchase” law, they saw an increase in gun homicides by 23%, and a 16% increase in suicides. This shows us that background checks do really matter, and is another possible solution to this problem.
Future president,
Please make more gun laws, or make it harder for people to obtain guns. I don’t want to have to turn around if I feel that someone is following me with a gun. I want to live as long as I can.
Sincerely, Sam L
Sources: Business Insider, New York Times, BBC, USA Today, The Trace.com, npr.org