Dear Mr/Mrs. President,

I believe we should pay more attention to gun violence. America has too many guns, and many people don’t feel safe. NBC news says the latest General Social Survey found that 32 percent of Americans either own a firearm themselves or live with someone who does. This is why people don’t feel safe.  There are people that need to have guns, most of them hunters. According to the International Hunter Education Association approximately 1,000 people in America and Canada are accidentally shot by hunters every year and just under a hundred of those accidents are fatalities. Do you feel safe hunting now?

There are so many people who own guns illegally. As a result of this, anyone can own a gun. There are some statistics from Illegal guns Statistics Overview that show illegal weapons made their ways into the hands of plenty of criminals. "Eighty six percent of juveniles in correctional facilities are reported to have owned a gun at some point, all of which have been illegal weapons."  Michael Patrick MacDonald’s Boston’s Gun Buyback Program collected and destroyed over 2,000 working guns. As a result, Boston experienced two years without a single juvenile homicide. The program shared the factors that made the program successful, and showed "how a united voice for peace can change a community".

Gun violence is not just homicide or assault with a deadly weapon; it also includes attempted suicides and suicides. There was a 13 year old boy named Cayman who was happy, didn’t get bullied at school, and had a happy family, but unfortunately he took his life with a gun his dad had at the house. His dad didn't even know that Cayman knew where the gun was. Now he regrets not throwing out the gun when his kids were born. The video on Cayman’s story that i saw on YouTube shows that 20,000 Americans take their lives every year with a gun, and most of those suicides are impulsive. Also the video showed that a gun in the home makes a suicide three times more likely to happen. I believe parents should not have guns in their homes. I believe Americans should have fewer guns. Gun violence is very, very important to many people, including me. I want you, the president, to support that we do not have to carry guns around, as I think that only the soldiers in battle should carry guns. 

Sincerely,

Alexandra