Dear Congresswoman Chellie Pingree,

Hi. I hope this letter finds you well. Our names are Darren, Henry, and Emily, and we are high school students from Parkland, Florida, and in light of the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, we have some suggestions regarding the issue of gun control, and measures/solutions we would like to see put in place to either decrease gun-related homicides or increase gun regulation. The time for restrictions on gun ownership is long overdue. We’ve already experienced way too many mass shootings of innocent civilians, including children and adults alike. How many more of these tragedies must happen before our representatives in Washington do something about it? Because of these reasons and the US Government’s incapability to effectively regulate gun ownership, we propose the following:

• Ban on any military typed assault weapons
• Ban on any armor piercing ammunition and rounds
• Sticken mandatory background checks when applying for a firearm license
• Expand funding for mental health programs

First of all, a complete ban on any military typed assault weapons would significantly lower the rate of mass shootings. These assault weapons include semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15 (which continuously appears at the deadliest mass shootings) and fully automatic firearms such as the M4 and UZIs. The firearms stated above and much more assault rifles make it extremely easy to for a random killer with the wrong motives to effectively bring about these mass shootings, as these guns usually have a high rate of fire and hold a great amount of ammunition. In addition to the ban on assault rifles, we would also like to see a ban on armor-piercing ammunition implemented. This special ammunition for assault rifles and snipers allows the criminals in possession of these to easily take out a cop or soldier with a bulletproof vest and other protective gear. This makes it much more dangerous for law enforcements and therefore decreases the safety guaranteed to the citizens of the United States. We are positive that these two bans would lower the rate of mass shootings, as we observe from past laws. The Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB), or the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, was a ten-year ban on all assault rifles starting from 1994 and expires at 2004. In 2004, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence examined the impact of the Assault Weapons Ban, and stated that the use of assault weapons in crime have decreased a stunning 45%, and proves to be extremely effective.

Second of all, we bring forward the idea to stricken mandatory background checks on all gun owners. Over the past decade, more than half of all the mass shootings are performed with legally purchased firearms. For example, Nickolas Cruz, the individual identified as the shooter of our school’s mass shooting, legally purchased a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle in February 2017 from a licensed gun store, and later used it in one of America’s bloodiest school shootings. These continuous shooting with legal guns are due to the loophole, which Donald Trump kept after Obama tried to shut it down, which allows people to obtain guns while undergoing mental health treatment. We propose that this loophole should be cut off completely and everyone requires a mandatory background check that especially focuses on the individual’s mental health, as most mass shooters have a record of previously identified mental illness or ongoing untreated mental issues. For example, the shooter stated above, Cruz had gone to a mental health clinic for treatment but hadn’t been there in more than a year, which he then left and proceeded to purchase assault rifles. This mental disorder and the easy access of guns allowed him to open fire at our school, hurting the lives of hundreds and traumatizing thousands, including us. According to The Guardian, 3/10 people who went on to commit high-profile mass shootings should have been barred by law from buying guns but got them anyway because of background check system failures. We also saw that you voted against the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act, which authorizes veterans deemed mentally incompetent to buy firearms unless they are found by a judge to be dangerous to themselves or others. While you may have voted against this bill, it was ultimately passed. What the government is doing now is basically making the checks so passable that even those who are diagnosed to be mentally incompetent could own a firearm, as long as they are not “dangerous”, and this lead to nine out of ten of all mass shootings in the US. Who are you to say that one of these “mentally incompetent” veterans would not become a school shooter? Because of this, we strongly urge the US government to think upon this issue and implement stricter background checks, completely shielding these potentially dangerous people out of the gun market.

Finally, we propose that the government should expand funding for mental health programs, a point that former President Obama also brought forward. Instead of just impeding these mentally incompetent individuals from buying a gun, why not further help them by providing the suitable health care that they require? If the deserved healthcare programs and treatments were not provided, it is likely that these people would still obtain a firearm through secondary sources or illegally. To fully stop this problem, we have to dig from its root and help lower the number of people with mental issues, which would then lead to a decline in numbers of mass shooting performed by such individuals.

With all due respect, the current gun control laws of the US and of each individual states are clearly not even close to being enough, with 154 mass shootings just happening this year. We have got to take a stand in the fight for gun control, and with your help, we hope to see the proposed measures to be implemented and lower the rate of gun homicides and especially mash shootings that are destroying countless of innocent American families each day, as we speak. We really hope you would put our proposals into consideration. Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Darren Chao, Emily Wu, and Henry Sha