Dear Future President,

I’m writing to you in regards of gun control, and how it should be handled. It is no secret that the easy access to guns has been a problem within the last few years in America. More individuals are finding it okay to harm people with a firearm. I, as an American citizen, hate waking up in the morning, logging online, and seeing that yet another fatality has occurred. American citizens need to realize that having such easy access to firearms is dangerous, and in order to combat that, the U.S. needs stricter gun laws. Too many innocent people are dying, so it’s time we all put down the weapons and start walking the Earth as friends, not enemies.

The U.S. government should take action in making gun laws more strict, for the safety of the American public. There needs to be more intense background checks on every individual looking to own a gun. Under the Allowance section of Gun Control on justfacts.com, between February 2004 and December 2014, 2,233 firearm and three explosives background checks for people on terrorist watch lists were processed through the federal background check system. 91% of the firearm transactions and 100% of the explosives transactions passed through. This is the problem we are dealing with, harmful individuals are carrying deadly weapons and getting away with it.

Gun control is not only affected by poor background checks, but also by crime rates. According to justfacts.com, in their Crime and Self-Defense article, in 2014, 68% of all murders in the U.S. were committed using a firearm, that’s 9,675 people that didn’t get to return to their families. 9,675 people that never got to say goodbye in their final moments and may have been prevented if we had more strict gun laws.

Does owning a firearm really help protect you, or does it just add to the problem? Procon.org says that guns are rarely used in self-defense. Out of the 29,618,300 violent crimes between 2007-2011, only 0.79% of victims protected themselves with a firearm. When someone comes dashing towards you or attacking you, you don't have much time to think anyways. Yes, a gun might come in handy, but are you really thinking about shooting them, or are you just thinking about getting away as fast as possible?

Gun control is undoubtedly one of the most controversial topics in this day and age. There are so many tragedies due to the wrong people getting ahold of guns. The Sandy Hook school shooting is one example. Now because of that, 20 children and six staff members that once had their whole life ahead of them and a light in their eyes, are now gone. If we had stricter gun laws and background checks, this situation maybe wouldn’t have happened, and those 26 individuals would still be walking this Earth today. Do us all a favor and put stronger borders around gun control for the safety of the American public. Don’t let the wrong people get ahold of such dangerous weapons, this world deserves better.

Sincerely,

Alyssa Backes