In the wake of mass shootings at Newtown, Aurora, Virginia Tech and other places whose names are now etched in our collective memory, pundits warned that we had become so used to such atrocities that they no longer had the power to shock.
Then came Orlando.
The single deadliest gun massacre in American history took place in that Florida city on June 12 in a gay nightclub where people were dancing and enjoying the night. Forty-nine were killed, another 53 wounded, and our nation finds itself traumatized again by a premeditated slaughter born out of hate.
What kind of a country is this? How is it possible that the “last best hope of earth,” as Lincoln called this nation, leads the world in these sorts of bloodbaths?
It is possible because too many Americans, especially political decision-makers, refuse to loosen their vicelike grip on our so-called freedom to bear arms, no matter how lethal. When gun murders take place daily, and when a conniving gun lobby and its lapdogs in Congress avoid all responsibility for contributing to this national disgrace, we are not free.
Thankfully, the American Jewish community has spoken up clearly and angrily on this issue, and well before Orlando. For example, Rabbis Against Gun Violence, a national organization started in the Bay Area, has this week reaffirmed its demand for congressional action.
We add our voice to the chorus. Though the Second Amendment is too densely woven into the fabric of America to expect it to be altered any time soon, we echo the words of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative who in 1991 described the interpretation of a citizen’s right to bear arms as “one of the greatest pieces of fraud … on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”
He was correct. No one has the right to own a weapon of mass destruction, such as the AR-15 assault rifle used in Orlando and other killings. We join Jewish community organizations in demanding gun reform, including an immediate ban on the sale of assault weapons.
To those who counter that bad guys will always find a way to obtain weapons, it is true that a ban may not stop all attacks, but it will stop some. And that’s a start.
For the victims of the Orlando shooting and their families, we offer our deepest condolences. But no one should stop there. No more moments of silence. From here on out, silence equals death.