Kids at centre stage in gun debate
2013-01-17 13:55
Washington – "Dear President Obama," began a letter from
8-year-old Grant Fritz, with the shaky printing - missed words, spelling errors
- of someone just learning how to put thoughts down on paper.
"I think there should be some changes in the law
with guns," Fritz said in the 17 December letter he sent to the president
days after the Newtown school shootings.
Invited to the White House on Wednesday, Fritz and three
other children in their Sunday best sat on stage as Obama read out parts of
their letters to illustrate why he wants to tighten gun laws.
The children's' presence at Obama's announcement aimed to
keep kids at the heart of the often emotional battle over gun control, which
reignited with the murder of 20 first-graders in Newtown, Connecticut, last
month.
The president's own young daughters were dragged into the
fray on Tuesday when the National Rifle Association (NRA) put out an ad
accusing Obama of hypocrisy by giving the girls armed Secret Service
protection.
That broke a long-held taboo against using a president's
children in political attacks and outraged the White House, which described the
ad as "repugnant".
With the letter-writing children looking on, Obama
announced wide-ranging plans for gun control, including bringing an assault
weapon ban to Congress.
He challenged Americans to ask their lawmakers to support
his plan despite objections from groups who believe the measures will infringe
on gun ownership rights.
"Ask them what's more important: Doing whatever it
takes to get a 'A' grade from the gun lobby that funds their campaigns, or
giving parents some peace of mind when they drop their child off for first
grade?" Obama said to applause from a crowd of interest groups, Democratic
lawmakers and law enforcement officials who agree with his plan.
Flood of letters
Anger and pain over the 14 December Newtown shooting has
been a common topic in the stacks of letters from Americans that flood into the
White House. Obama says he reads 10 letters a day from the public.
Julia Stokes, 11, wrote that she "may not [be] that
into politics but my opinion is that it should be very hard for people to buy
guns”.
"I know that laws have to be passed by congress but
I beg you to try very hard to make guns not allowed," wrote Julia, who
dotted her 'i' with a heart.
Hinna Zeejah, 8, whose patent-leather Mary Jane shoes
didn't reach the floor as she sat on the White House stage, wrote, "I feel
terrible for the parents who lost their children."
In the front row of the event sat Chris and Lynn
McDonald, whose 7-year-old daughter, Grace, was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary
School in Newtown.
"I'm told she loved pink. She loved the beach. She
dreamed of becoming a painter," Obama said. Her parents looked at each
other and smiled as the president spoke of how one of Grace's paintings now
hangs in his private study.
The horror of the Newtown school shooting made a
significant difference in the debate over gun violence, said Annette
Nance-Holt, who lost her only child, Blair, in a shooting on a city bus, when
he was coming home from school in 2007.
"In Chicago, we've been waiting for a long time. I
don't just represent Blair - that was my baby - but there are so many other
babies in the city of Chicago that have been gunned down innocently,"
Nance-Holt told reporters, wearing a picture of her son on her lapel.
"Now we have a groundswell of movement. We have 20
babies, and people are looking at this totally different."
Using kids as props
Obama was criticised by conservative pundits and bloggers
as using children as political "props”.
"I don't even know what to say about the White House
publishing letters from children for political purposes. It's just so
disgusting," tweeted Michelle Clouthier, a libertarian blogger.
In its ad, the NRA accused Obama of being "just
another elitist hypocrite" for allowing armed Secret Service protection
for his daughters but turning down the lobby group's proposal after the Newtown
shooting to put armed guards in all schools.
That drew fire from White House spokesperson Jay Carney.
"Most Americans agree that a president's
children should not be used as pawns in a political fight. But to go so far as
to make the safety of the president's children the subject of an attack ad is
repugnant and cowardly," Carney said.
