Devon T. California

A Letter to the Next President

In America today one of the most common ways of death is firearms related incidents. This letter addresses what I believe to be a solution and at the very least, what not to do.

Dear Mr. or Madam President:

Hello, my name is Devon and I’m sixteen and I live in California. My family and I are all citizens of the United States. My father is a police officer, who protects Americans.  He carries a firearm to protect himself, as well as others. Currently, what concerns me about our nation is the staggering fact that many Americans lose their lives to firearms and nothing seems to be getting better about it, it’s only getting worse. I hope that in the future we can change the reality that currently, in our country over thirty thousand die every year in situations with firearms.

Already in our country many Americans die due to a variety of causes for instance; car accidents being the likeliest cause, taking estimated at about forty-thousand lives. The United States alone is marginally higher in terms of gun deaths than any other wealthy country, my family personally has experienced the loss of a loved one in a situation where a firearm was discharged. What I wish for the United States is; in due time that deaths caused by suicides and homicides can be reduced and in the very best case, stopped. According to reports from the G.V.A. in 2015 over 30,000 Americans died due to homicides, gang assaults, and suicides, two thirds of these deaths being counted in suicides. I am under the belief that these all can be prevented through different acts of legislation for example; with the reinforcing of mental health systems we may be able to provide for citizens who urgently need counseling. On the other hand for the amount of deaths that’ve happened, is the government willing to step in and promote and enforce this change? If the government were to put forth this effort would they benefit or would it be easier if they simply disarmed the nation. If the government attempted to relieve the nation of its firearms, as a whole, not only would it cause a large civil uproar but, also would leave our nation’s people vulnerable to criminals and other threats who have obtained illegal firearms and through this the lives lost would continue to climb until it would rival and surpass the other common ways to die in the United States.

I hope in due time that our next President shall do their part in taking care of Americans and do what they can in order to prevent deaths due to firearms or any other unnatural cause of death that occurs. I agree let’s make America great again, let’s save lives.

Best Regards,

Devon T.


Yreka High School

American Literature

Yreka High School English III students from Ms. Truttman's class.

All letters from this group →