Dear Mr./Mrs. President,

Across America there is a debate on whether we should ban/restrict firearms or not. My answer is no. If we banned firearms we'd be powerless to defend ourselves against attackers, just like in France, Belgium, or England. It even leaves citizens open to various forms of attack. 

Say you are sitting in your home, there is a firearms ban in effect and you have no other form of defense. All of a sudden a burglar breaks into your home, and begins waving around a big knife. Unless you are Superman you are powerless to do anything, unless you risk getting stabbed or worse. He is free to take whatever he pleases, and gets away without a scratch on him. Or in another situation, a madman breaks and attacks you and your family.  If you had a gun you might be able to successfully defend yourself, and he could be either in the hands of God or the police.

Now you could make the argument that I am just fear monger, pandering to right-wing businessmen who use fear as a proponent to support their ideals. Yes, the thought of being powerless is scary, but it is that fear that keeps us alive. Alternatively you could say that guns are unnecessary. Yes, some guns are unnecessary, but they mostly aren't used for defense, they're mainly used for hunting or just collecting. Most home defense enthusiasts would carry a Glock or a Colt, or maybe a Smith and Wesson or H&K. They probably don't plan on using their big expensive guns because they break easily and are expensive to replace.  Lastly, another argument is "They were talking about muskets when they wrote the constitution." Thinking that when the founding fathers wrote the constitution, mainly the second amendment, they didn't think about possible technological advancements is probably inaccurate.  Of course they thought about technological advancements.   I'm sure they heard about how the Chinese invented gunpowder, and how we went from cannons to muskets and so on. They wrote it so the people have a way to overthrow the government if it were to ever become tyrannical.

I'm going to look at a movie now, a movie that perfectly outlines what would happen if Russia ever invaded. That movie is Red Dawn (1984.) In Red Dawn a rag-tag group of teenagers, led by Patrick Swayze, survive the invasion, defending themselves with firearms. If the U.S. were to be invaded and the government were unable to fight back it'd be up to the people to take a stand and resist the invaders. This is why we need to remain armed in case of an invasion so big.

In conclusion, I believe the U.S. would fall into chaos if people didn't have the means to defend themselves against armies. It's been the right of the people since the 1700s, and taking away that right could be catastrophic- an act of tyranny to strip the citizens of their only defense. So I urge you, the next president, to think wisely and not make a poor decision that could lead to further trouble down the road.

William