Pelosi to host Newtown student, mother at State of the Union

By Bernie Becker - 02/08/13 05:16 PM ET

LANSDOWNE, Va. – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Friday that a mother and daughter from Newtown, Conn., would be her guests at next week’s State of the Union address.

Pelosi told reporters at a news conference at the annual House Democratic retreat that the fourth-grade girl had written her a letter after the December shooting at Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children dead.

The minority leader’s office said Friday that it would not release the names of the mother or daughter. The girl is not a student at Sandy Hook but does attend school in Newtown.

Pelosi is one of several Democrats who have announced they are bringing victims of gun violence to the president’s address next week. Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), who was paralyzed as a teenager in a gun accident, has tried to persuade colleagues to bring the victims to Washington.

At the same news conference, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said his guest next week would be Carole Price, whose son died in a shooting and helped pass trigger-lock legislation in Maryland.

In her letter to Pelosi, the fourth-grader said she started an online petition asking President Obama and lawmakers to change gun laws and that her town wanted to see large-capacity magazines banned.

“In Newtown’s municipal center, there are hundreds of thousands of cards and pictures from children and adults from all across America,” the girl wrote. “It’s so sad. I think the people against changing gun laws should walk through the long hallway and read one card out of every box, to realize how many people want this change.”