From left, 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 in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington on Wednesday. Teajah attends church in Marietta.
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
The proposals would require background checks for every gun buyer, a ban on semi-automatic assault rifles and a limit on high-capacity clips.
The Rev. Harris Travis, pastor of Zion Baptist, said Goode’s mother, Kimberly Graves, received a phone call from a White House official Monday morning inviting them to attend the signing.
“She called me immediately after she got the call to talk everything through,” he said. “She was a little concerned, asking ‘Is this for real?’ You don’t get a call from the White House every day. … I don’t know what I would do either.”
Travis said Goode and Graves, who live in Douglas County but have attended the Marietta church for many years, were headed home Wednesday night from Washington, D.C.
He didn’t know Goode had written a letter shortly after the Newtown, Conn., shooting at an elementary school but said it didn’t surprise him.
“He is a very, very impressive young man,” Travis said. “He has done extremely well in school, and he goes after school and takes classes in music. He can play the organ extremely well, piano extremely well and the drums.”
Goode’s letter to Obama states, “I am writing to ask you to STOP gun violence. I am very sad about the children who lost their lives in Connecticut, so I thought I would write to you to STOP gun violence. Thank you, Mr. President. Your American, Taejah.”
Obama read aloud Goode’s letter, along with those of several other children, to a group of Cabinet secretaries, administration officials and others in a White House auditorium Wednesday prior to the announcement.
“These are some pretty smart letters from some pretty smart young people,” Obama said. “So what we should be thinking about, is our responsibility to care for them, and shield them from harm, and give them the tools they need to grow up, and do everything that they’re capable of doing. Not just to pursue their own dreams, but to help build this country. 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.”
None of the writers invited to Wednesday’s media event said they opposed efforts to tighten access to guns.
The White House did not immediately respond when asked whether it had received letters from children who disagreed with Obama on the need for stricter gun control.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
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I pray to God that you do not teach or volunteer in our schools. It is obvious that what knowledge and views you have come from only reading and news and real life application of protecting freedom or the constitution. Your words show that you have never given your own blood or sacrificed your own body to protect people from violence or to uphold the constitution and laws that a llot of us have taken an oath to protect. Your theories sound warm and fuzz in a classroom or socialist meeting. I would suggest that you read the Decloration of Independence, take an oath to uphold it, and then strap some boots on and put your life on the everyday to protect it for people that violate it.
And on the note of blaming Bush all the time is getting old. I believe that every President in history has dropped the ball on many decisions. And every President from here on out will also make bad decisions. But like my dad always told " don't blame other people for your mistakes." If President Obama is not man enough to handle this horrible violent country that Bush left, then he needs to move on instead of blaming other people.
- GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH
in·fringe
/inˈfrinj/
Verb
Actively break the terms of (a law, agreement, etc.): "infringe a copyright".
Act so as to limit or undermine (something); encroach on: "infringe on his privacy".
Synonyms
violate - transgress - break - contravene - trespass
I will suggest that you get to know the teachers in your local elementary school before you start blaming them for the inadequacies of some of the children.
Do some volunteer work in a classroom, you might learn something of value. You are very quick to judge the teacher based on very little information. I will call that "IGNORANT"!
If this trend continues, this country will end up in a civil war, and it's going to be far worse than the last one!!
The second amendment was not written to make murder more efficient. Get it? Probably not.
There is no understanding of the rights of our people guaranteed by our constitution - failure of both the school and parent(s). I am assuming no father is in the picture.
I read the letter by 3rd grade student Hinna Zeejah, printed, sloppy, many easy and simple words misspelled. She was referred to as precocious.
It seems school teachers are more concerned with indoctrination instead of academics. Failures in English, spelling, penmanship and certainly History.