Children ask Obama to change gun laws
2013-01-16 18:19
Washington - Three days after six teachers and 20 students were killed by a
rampaging gunman at their school in Newtown, Connecticut, an 8-year-old from
Maryland pulled out a sheet of paper and asked President Barack Obama for
"some changes in the laws with guns".
"It's a free country but I recommend
there needs [to] be a limit with guns," Grant wrote in a letter dated 17 December.
"Please don't let people own machine guns or other powerful guns like
that."
In the days after the shooting, children
around the country put their feelings about the massacre on paper and sent
those letters to a receptive White House.
"I am writing to ask you to STOP gun
violence," wrote Tajeah, a 10-year-old from Georgia. "I am very sad
about the children who lost their lives. So, I thought I would write to you to
STOP gun violence."
On Wednesday, when Obama announces
proposals to reduce gun violence, he will be joined by Grant, Tajeah and other
children who expressed their concerns about gun violence and school safety to
the one person they think can make a difference.
The White House shared three such letters
with The Associated Press.
Gun control
Obama has spoken in favour of banning
assault-style weapons, limiting high-capacity ammunition magazines and
requiring background checks for every gun buyer.
On the other side of the issue, the
National Rifle Association, the powerful lobbying group for gun owners, views
any effort to limit access to guns as an infringement on the Second Amendment
right to bear arms and has pledged to fight attempts by Congress to enact new
restrictions.
Eleven-year-old Julia, who lives in the
District of Columbia and dotted the "I'' in her name with a heart, wrote
that she has four brothers and sisters and "I know I would not be able to
bear the thought of losing any of them". She said it should be "very
hard" for people to buy guns and closed by acknowledging that Obama can't
do it alone.
"I know that laws have to be passed
by Congress but I beg you to try very hard to make guns not allowed. Not just
for me, but for the whole United States," Julia wrote, signing the letter
with "my love and regrets". She will also be at the White House on
Wednesday.
The White House did not release last
names for any of the letter writers, or hometowns for Grant and Tajeah.
- AP
