Your view: Student's view

My name is Chris Johnson and I am an 18-year-old student at Risco High School. I am writing to you in regards to President Bush's Patriot Act and what I think is wrong with it.

The Patriot Act was passed to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world and to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools. It was supposed to unite and strengthen America by providing appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism.

The Patriot Act sounds like a good idea at first until you start to read some of the sections of the act, like Subtitle B, section 412 which states: "The mandatory detention of suspected terrorists." How are you a terrorist if you didn't do any terrorist acts? What happened to innocent until proven guilty? For example in St. Louis there was a group of homeless people called the Gonzo art colony. All they did was make art that criticized the government. Guess what happened? They were arrested and charged as terrorists. I don't know maybe the government saw them as a threat, but all they were was homeless artists who didn't like what the government was doing.

Well I don't know if I changed your opinion on the matter, but regardless if the United States government is going to renew the Patriot Act they need to change some of it so it doesn't target Americans who have opinions that go against what the government is doing at the time, but targets the real threats to America. Thank you for reading my opinion and that is all it is an opinion.

Respectfully, Chris Johnson

Risco