November 4, 2016

Dear Future President,

Every since this nation was founded, the people of this nation had been granted the right to defend one’s self with firearms from hostile threats. During those time period, life was a survival rather than a living. So, one had to defend one’s self from deadly hostile threats. But, today some people had abuse that right by using firearms to terrorize public places. In the past few years, the rate of crimes committed by gun violence had been increasing and it is likely to increase more in the future. This issue had been causing the people to feel unsafe in public places and put family members of the victims to be in sorrow and tears. Unless we do something about this issue, this nation would put its people in terror of gun violence. We need to make people feel secure and protected. So they would be able to call this place, home.

This nation had been terrorized by people with dangerous intentions through the course of its history. Unless executive actions are not done to prevent this issue, those people with dangerous intentions would put the public in terror, which would make us feel unsafe and powerless. Every day, 48 children and teens are shot in murders, assaults, suicides and suicide attempts, unintentional shootings, and police intervention. (Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence) From this piece of information, we can tell that gun violence is an issue that need the attention of higher authorities. Many lives had been taken away by this issue, and actions need to be done to prevent this issue. People who want to purchase firearms should be thoroughly inspected, including their mental health.

Unfortunately, our nation has higher rates of crimes committed by gun violence, compare to other countries. Our nation had been granted the right to bear arms with the 2nd ammendment of the constitution. However, people with ill intentions had been misused the right to bear arms to fulfill their own personal vendettas, or ambitions. Such as committing robberies, mass shootings, murders, and so on. Of all the murders in the US in 2012, 60% were by firearm compared with 31% in Canada, 18.2% in Australia, and just 10% in the UK. (United Nations Office on Drugs & Crimes) Based on this piece of information, we can conclude that our nation need to take actions to prevent gun violence. Gun violence had taken many lives of our loved ones. Unless the higher authorities take actions against gun violence, our nation would be living in fear of firearms.

Furthermore, one of the most horrific crime committed with firearms in human history can easily be mass shooting. The name of this crime is not a pleasant word to hear. It provokes the fear inside of our minds. Surprisingly, most mass shootings in the US had been regarded as hate crimes rather than terrorism which we can imply that this type of crime is more an issue of nation’s interior rather than exterior. There were 372 mass shootings in the US in 2015, killing 475 people and wounding 1,870 (Mass Shooting Tracker), according to a website dedicated to record such incidents. We can concluded from the evidence mentioned earlier that gun violence need to be given the attention of executive authority. This issue can be prevent by the executive authority granted to the President of our nation. If executive actions are not taken to prevent gun violence, it would result more people to feel insecure, and they would try to defend themselves by using more firearms which would results in more conflicts and chaos.

In 2015, there was a crime committed with firearms at around the place I lived. Unfortunately, the victim passed away at the incident. It was committed by a group of people who should not had firearms in the first place. The action of those people is ethically wrong, but if they did not possess such deadly weapons, the outcome could had been different. If a legislation is issued to limit gun purchase, that person might still be alive today. Background checking should be more tighten before selling guns to the public, in my humble opinion. A legislation should be passed that requires a person medical records to check the person’s mental health when they trying to purchase a firearm. We need to be more focus on preventing this issue, or many people would feel insecure, and live in fear of firearms. Mr. President as a student I am asking to make changes regarding to gun violence in this nation. So, children can live and learn in safe environments, and families would not have to shed more tears. We need to prevent this darkness that had been terrorizing our nation for a long period of time. We need to stop gun violence.

Sincerely,

Joseph P.

Foster High School

Tukwila, WA