Dear Next President,

I think that gun rights should be limited and should have more extensive background checks when a gun wants to be purchased. There have been to many incidents such as deaths and injuries. Many of the injuries are to young children and teenagers because they are not fully aware of the harm that guns can do. We have made many changes to our gun rights but it still isn’t enough to keep the people safe.

Reporter from the Washington Post Christopher Ingraham said “Every year 30,000 people are killed by guns each year.’ This number is way too high. This is the reason that we need more restrictions because of the number of deaths. Guns are the second leading cause of death in 15-24 year olds. That is just too young for teenagers and young adults to die but especially from gunshot. Medical costs for gunshot wounds are costing us about 2.3 billion dollars each year. In 2012 there was a shooting at an elementary school named Sandy Hook. A 20 year old man shot and killed children between 6 and 7 years old. He also shot 6 adult staff members. The man was mentally ill and before he went to the elementary school he killed his mother. This man should not have been able to get ahold of a gun to do something like this.

Throughout the year guns are sold without having a proper background check. They are just given the gun for the money.. All of the guns that are sold have many different purposes. They have hunting guns and hand guns. About a third of the US population has a gun at home with children under 18. If those children pick up on where the parents put the gun or are curious what it can do it could be deadly for the children.

In my own home there was a gun that I had no idea that we had. A gun was just sitting in my house and I was oblivious to the fact. My parents just told me about this. It is a hunting gun that my uncle used to use and was storing it in my house in a very accessible spot in the basement of my house. I have younger cousins that are just 5 and 8 years old. They play in the basement all the time and what if they found it and thought the gun was a toy they could have gotten seriously hurt.

So as future president I would like you to see if you could change the regulations of gun rights. As a nation we should all work together to put more restrictions on the people that are able to get guns and have more background check.

Sincerely,

Jaymee Gulsvig

Grade 10

Eagan, MN