Dear Mr/Mrs President,

For years this great country of ours has stood for freedom, acceptance, and possibly above all, freedom of religion. Is this not the reason for the founding of our great nation? Was it not the goal of the very first settlers to create a nation of free and open religion? My name is Morgan Z. and as a 16 year old highschool student I am highly concerned with the world that I will be stepping into in the years to come, the kind of country I will live in, the ideals and concepts that we will uphold and honor. I implore you to follow in the footsteps of our founders and continue to uphold the selfless, bright, and hopeful image that America was meant to represent. It is our duty to open our arms to refugees and immigrants who wish only for a better life and a safe place to live. With the power that our country holds and the prosperity that we hold in comparison to many other nations that now find themselves torn apart and ravaged by war and conflict, we must give aid, we cannot simply stand by and watch the rest of the world crumble and fall apart.

We are better than this, are we truly too cowardly, too afraid of the unknown to open our arms and help those in need? If so we should not stand as a major power in the world, for if we are not mature enough, or civilized enough to recognize when it is necessary to put others first, and to think of others before ourselves, then surely we are not deserving of the spot that we hold on the World Stage. Every terror attack after the tragedy of 9/11 has been home-grown, not caused by an immigrant or refugee but instead other Americans, according to the New York Times. I believe a solution to this problem can be found in increasing control on firearms. Research has shown that civilians who undergo the minimal required training to gain a license to carry a firearm almost always receive an unwanted outcome in police level simulations of possible terror attacks or armed combat. This negates the notion of a “good guy with a gun”. In fact according to the New York Times, among other sources, over 80% of mass shootings in the U.S. were executed with a legally obtained firearm. Instead of focusing our attention on the border and fear of other cultures and religions, we should be focusing on the deaths that take place right under our noses, through increased gun control the number of tragic deaths in the U.S. could be greatly decreased. As for the Constitution, the founding fathers could not have predicted a weapon that could vacate all life from a room of people in a matter of seconds, this was not the intention of the second amendment.

Thank you for your service to our nation, I have confidence and faith that you will bring great changes to this nation and I look forward to the future with you in office. I am eager to see your opinions and actions in this matter and am hopeful as to the results that will come of your decisions and choices. Thank you for your time.

-Morgan Z.