Dear future president,

As I am writing this, I am unsafe. I am unsafe in my school, a place I used to feel comfortable. I shouldn’t feel this way. No, there is no reason for me to feel unsafe besides the 91 people that lose their lives from this everyday, some even at their own schools. Yes, I am talking about shootings.

Now, do I know for sure if someone has a gun sitting right next to me? Of course not, but it is in fact possible, and I almost wouldn’t be surprised. I am a 17 year old student going to school for education, yet I’m worried about being shot by someone who should absolutely not have a gun. Does this sound right to you? The access to guns is so incredibly easy, easy enough that I have to worry about a mentally ill person with a firearm in public, waiting to go off. This absolutely needs to change. I know this issue is a very controversial issue that you as president focus on quite a bit, but as I speak for the people who lost their lives, I feel it is appropriate to say that guns need to be far less available.

Anyone reading this would assume I’m suggesting to take guns away from everyone as if they don’t have a right, but I absolutely think it is appropriate for a stable person to own a handgun for self defense to feel safe. However, I stand against the people who are not mentally healthy enough to own guns. Those who are not mentally stable are the large majority of the people that have murdered more than 30,000 people every year. This needs to stop immediately.

When will it get to the point where it’s my family that falls victim to these senseless murders? When will you fall victim? As president, I am sure that you need many, many guards to protect you from being shot and assassinated, like what has happened in the past, but then I go to school. School, a place where 142 different shootings have happened since 2013. So tell me, how will I be protected?

I’m sorry if this is too inconvenient for you, but there needs to be action soon to stop this, or action by killers will take power. I used to think it was silly to think this way and how it was all in our heads, but it has become a reality that I can no longer ignore. There are people with mental illnesses (severe or not) who have guns because of how lightly the psychological tests are taken. The tests need to be stricter. Bottom line, take guns away from the mentally unstable and let the people with clear minds and good intentions have their right bear arms, please.

Nolan Langley