Political Eye
By

Stephanie Condon /

CBS News/ January 16, 2013, 1:50 PM

Kids' letters to Obama on gun control

From left to right: Hinna Zeejah, 8, Taejah Goode, 10, Julia Stokes, 11, and Grant Fritz, 8, who wrote letters to President Barack Obama about the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., watch as Obama signs executive orders outlining proposals to reduce gun violence, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington.

From left to right: Hinna Zeejah, 8, Taejah Goode, 10, Julia Stokes, 11, and Grant Fritz, 8, who wrote letters to President Barack Obama about the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., watch as Obama signs executive orders outlining proposals to reduce gun violence, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington. / AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

When President Obama today outlined a comprehensive plan for reducing gun violence, four children were seated by his side.

Those children -- 8-year-old Hinna Zeejah, 10-year-old Taejah Goode, 11-year-old Julia Stokes and 8-year-old Grant Fritz -- wrote letters to Mr. Obama, pleading with him to tighten gun laws in the wake of the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The president read parts of their letters and remarked, "This is our first task as a society: Keeping our children safe. This is how we will be judged. And their voices should compel us to change."

Taejah wrote to the president, "I am writing you to ask you to STOP gun violence. I am very sad about the children who lost their lives in Conn."

Hinna noted in her letter that "bullets don't have eyes," so "it can hurt anyone."

Julia, meanwhile, said she was worried about the safety of others.

"I have 4 brothers and sisters and I know I would not be able to bear the thought of losing any of them. I 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. Not just for me, but for the whole United States."

Grant noted in his letter, "It's a free country but I recommend there needs to be a limit with guns. Please don't let people own machine guns or other powerful guns like that. I think there should be a good reason to get a gun... We should learn from what happened at Sandy Hook. I feel really bad about what just happened."

Grant also added at the end of his letter: "P.S.: I know you're doing your best."

Read the letters below.

Childrens' letters to President Obama

© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
16 Comments Add a Comment
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ARREB says:
These kids were coached to write those letters. Lied to about guns and was not told the truth. That a bad man that was on drugs from a doctor that had side effects that cause dangerous behavior. This was covered up along with the truth that the gunman only used 4 handguns, that is why the security videos were not shown.
Tell the children the truth and quit using them to push your radical agendas.
If the killer used a car you would not ban the vehicle.
Ask the children should mommy and daddy be able to stop a person from killing their parents of raping their sisters or brothers. Tell them that police almost never get to a crime in time to save lives i most cases.
Tell them because of law biding citizens are allowed to firearms that the crime rates in those States have been dropping every year while crime rates in States like Washington, New York and California go up every year where people are restricted on owning guns.
Tell them why we have the second amendment is to keep people free and and to protect our families and loved ones when the policeman can not.
Ask the children how did the gun kill someone? Didi a person pick it up and use it or did it just start shooting people on its own?
Obama, you are a TYRANT plain and simple, all you care about is taking everything away from people in this country while giving Monsanto the rights to poison us with genetically altered foods while making them immune to be held accountable. You help the rich and powerful and giving them more power over us. Stripping away everything that made this country great and ruining America for us and generations to come.
Tell the children that you have guards with guns to protect you and your children and family. If guns need to be taken from us then you should be the first to show us the way by removing every semi automatic weapon in Washington including those carried by your armed guards, your Secret Service and do not allow any of them in the White House or anywhere there. Issue them single shot revolvers and bolt action rifles only.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander the old saying goes.

This tyrant needs to be impeached we need a President and not a King.
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Ferfalu says:
These kids should be writing to congress not the president.

Some basic civics in our education system would improve the country tremendously.
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RepealObamacare says:
How about a letter writing campaign regarding the debt burden these kids will have to shoulder?

If Obama really wants an Assault Gun Ban he will have to bargain with congress on spending cuts, it is ***-for-tat.

Further if we can have a universal gun purchase background check, why can't we have a similar voter registration check and data base. Obama wants immigration reform, right?

It was a great photo opportunity with the right racial mix and gender of kids. I can only gather what the expense was to get them there and to what government department budget it was charged.
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Ferfalu says:
Go Obama!
Next we will have a law demanding candy for dinner.
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Ferfalu says:
Think of the children!

Freedom is dangerous. If you don't like it, there's plenty of other places to go where no one died to give it to you.
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Pri56 says:
Why is this news? Is it because children have a special insight into constitutional law and public policy that we as adults just don't? If CBS and the White House want to use the opinion and image of the least informed segment of our population to bolster their position, what's that say about their position? Kids of this age will say what they're taught by their parents. Much like a parrot, a child mimics the right words but the child has no idea what they mean.
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mon_kie says:
We send drones to the MIddle East and wipe out scores of children there.
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rationall7 replies:
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So I guess you're saying if we don't care about the kids in the Middle East we shouldn't care about the kids in America. You know what makes your statement carry a bit of humanity is, at least our goverment isn't using drones to kill our kids it's the NRA and gun lobbyist getting crazy private people to kill our kids for a thrill.
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rationall7 says:
I'll bet these kids went on the internet and did some research on school shootings and found the history on the subject goes as far back as 1901 I'll bet these kids could take most of the adult posters down in a debate on school shootings subject.
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cleric77 says:
I just curious if these kids parents are Democrats/Socialists? Sure would been great if only one of them, would have asked "Mr. Obama how are you working and compromising with members of Congress to reduce our national debt??? " I also wonder how many times these kids have played "cops and robbers" "good guys and bad guys" with play guns.
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Adamfolwell21 says:
There were still more women and children slaughtered In Waco Texas than sandy hook. Does it make those children Subhuman because they were the children of "crazy" people? I could imagine those children that were torched by ATF and FBI were going about their day as well. Those children were also innocent And they all died.

And on the topic of the assault weapons ban, What if the teachers at Sandy hook utilized their Second Amendment right and were armed during this horrible tragedy. Do you think the outcome may have been a little different? Take away guns and the only two people that will have them are cops and criminals. Because we all know how criminals work, they find a way to do what they do.
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rationall7 replies:
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Where does this take away guns come from, don't tell me I know, Rush told you.

Today I heard Rush say Obamacare required doctors to ask the kids if any gun were in the home, I think the goverment already has that info if you have a bill of sale and registered your gun.
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