On December 14, 2012, I was in 1st grade on what seemed like any other normal day. I had just finished my soccer season, which at the time was very important to me, even though looking back now, I realize that type stuff wasn’t too important after all. 

I wasn’t a big fan of school, so I was pretty excited to go home, relax and play outside.

By the time I got on the bus, it was already crowded and I sat down next to my friend Nate, and off we went to head home.

When I got off the bus, my mom was waiting for me and my older brother.  However, I could tell there was something a little different about her face that afternoon.  She was normally happy and excited to see me, but not really this time. 

“What’s wrong mom?” I asked, curious to know. 

And then she told me about the Sandy Hook shooting, which took place in the neighboring town just a few hours earlier.

I was confused at first, but now looking back I realize how absolutely horrible that day was for so many people. The kids were my age.  They had no chance to save themselves.  

That is an example of why the U.S. should make their gun laws more strict. Guns kill over 36,000 people per year, and cause 85,000 injuries per year, and they are still on the rise. The only way to stop it is to change the gun laws, and make them stricter. 

One possible change for our laws could be the buyback program. With the buyback program, the government confiscates all of the citizens’ firearms. This has worked well in Australia, where their gun death rate dropped by 65%. The down side of the buyback program is that it can take up to 7 years to process, so it will be long until it is fully going. 

A way that some people get access to guns is through the “Gun Show Loophole”. This is a way that people get guns, with no background checks. A way to eliminate this, is to have all gun purchases have background checks.

I think that the second choice (Background checks) is the better choice because it will not take 7 years to do. It may not have as big of an impact as the buyback, but it still has a huge impact on the U.S.

Changing the gun laws will not completely stop gun violence, but it will have a big impact on the future. Changing the laws will help stop the annual 36,000 gun deaths and 85,000 injuries, and will help our country grow.