Dear Future President,

As you begin your term, you will have many issues to look at and decide which you will address first. When considering and debating the many issues in our country today, I strongly encourage you to start with the sickening issue of Gun Violence in our country today. When I was a little girl, my parents sheltered me heavily from the darkness going on around in our world. When I got older, everything I know now about the world I live in today and all of the tragedy and violence hit me all at once. I became scared and now aware that the world I had been so sheltered from was in fact dark. Being seventeen-years old, it is hard to remember a time where I wasn't scared. Almost every week, I open my phone to an article on a new shooting or a photograph of an innocent victim’s reaction. Whether they are children, women, men, innocent or guilty, American citizens are being killed every week without any difficulty by means of a weapon that should, in no way, be in the hands of the people they are possessed by today.

Lives are being lost. Lives that could easily still be here with us, but because we allow people to have such easy access to guns, people are dying left and right for no reason. How has this issue STILL not been fixed? How can it be possible that getting an abortion is harder and takes more time than purchasing any sort of gun? How is it possible that people who are not allowed to be on commercial airplanes because of their threat to the country can obtain a gun within minutes? This is, quite frankly, all unacceptable. How are we supposed to feel safe in our country when the biggest threat of all are the people standing next to us each day? You never know who will pull out a gun and kill you next. And as horrible and gruesome as it sounds, it has gotten to the point in which that statement is unfortunately true.

Please, Madame or Mr. President, help me and help the people of our country to feel safe again. Help us to feel like you will protect us. At this point, we are at war with each other, and it MUST be stopped. I urge you to do full background checks when purchasing a gun, ban guns for recreational use, and ban the people on the no flyer list. I understand the second amendment gives citizens of this country the right to bear arms, but please take a look at where that has put us today. I want to be able to wake up and feel safe. I urge you to reconsider the options and protect us from gun violence once and for all. I want to feel like a little girl again and not have to fear my own home, The United States of America. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Lily O'Donnell