Dear Mr. or Mrs. President,

I am a 14 year old student in Greenwich, Connecticut. My life is relatively easy and simple. Greenwich is a very safe neighborhood. I’m not afraid when I walk around at night. When people die in Greenwich because of a car wreck or some other accident, it’s a big deal. The town officials will investigate what caused the death and it will be in all the newspapers. Never in my life has gun violence been a problem. People in Greenwich don’t carry guns around to protect themselves, because protection isn’t needed. However, I know in other cities and towns, gun violence is a very big issue. 

I’ve been hearing so, so many stories in the papers for almost a year now. Every time it’s the same, some black boy has been shot to death by a white police officer who felt threatened by him. Or maybe, someone has taken a gun and shot up a school, or a nursing facility, or a mall. People will protest, there will be riots and everyone will plead for action to be taken. The papers will be full of the news. Then, after about a week, it will die off. That’s how sad the state of our nation is right now - people hear about a shooting, and of course they are sad, but they accept it and move on. 20 years ago, if someone had shot up a mall, it would be talked about for months. Now, people see it as ‘just another shooting,’ which is terrible. This is why this issue is so important to me. These people aren’t just another headline, or just another fact to put in the history books. These people being shot and killed are real people, with lives and a family. I don't understand how we can just turn out backs and ignore this issue. It is just going to get worse from here. At this point, any random ex-con can walk into a store and buy a gun.

America is leading all other countries in gun violence. According to americangunfacts.com, in America, there are about 89 guns per every 100 people. The only country that comes even close to our amount of guns is Switzerland, where there are 45 guns per 100 people. For every 100,000 people in the USA, 3.2 are murdered by guns. Again, Switzerland comes the closest, but they have .8 gun deaths per 100,000 people. The whole world looks down upon the USA as the country with the gun issues. Let’s put a stop to that.

I know that banning guns isn’t easy with some of your biggest supporters being gun manufacturers (I already learned about that), but please put that aside. You may lose some money if you put gun laws into place, but if you don’t do anything these people will continue to die deaths they do not deserve. It’s really time for a change. Please, try to pass a bill through Congress enforcing background checks when a person tries to buy a gun. This will prevent any random person walking up to a store and buying a gun, especially those with criminal histories. If it’s gotten to a point where people barely acknowledge shootings, then it’s time to step up and stop the gun violence.

-Katie