The faces of the 26 victims of last week’s massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., are seared in our minds. Twenty innocent young children, just starting their lives. Six teachers and administrators who died trying to protect them.
The nation recoiled in horror. But horror isn’t enough.
How many mass killings will it take
to shake us out of our somnolence? Columbine High School. Oikos University in Oakland. A movie theater in Colorado. And now this.
It’s time to channel the outrage into righteous action.
Newtown’s pain radiated across the country, into the White House and Congress. The will finally seems in place to do something about easy access to guns and the unchecked power of the gun lobby. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the force behind the first federal ban on assault weapons in 1994 — which expired in 2004 — has announced she will introduce legislation in January to reinstate the ban. President Obama has said he will back it. We, too, support the ban, and urge you to consider doing so as well.
No one pretends that outlawing assault weapons will end gun violence. Most murders are committed with less powerful weapons, and criminals will in any case get their hands on what they need. But a ban on assault weapons means that Nancy Lanza would not have been able to purchase the semiautomatic rifle that her son stole to kill her and then murder 26 others in the Newtown school. The rifle would not have been in her house, and perhaps those people would not have died.
As B’nai B’rith said in a statement, “There is no sane, acceptable, reasonable need in a civilian setting to fire off large rounds of ammunition.”
The organized Jewish community is speaking out already. Many Jewish leaders have expressed their horror at the crime, and are demanding action.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which represents nearly 140 Jewish communal organizations across the denominational spectrum, has launched an online petition (www.endgunviolencenow.org) affirming the value of protecting life, and asking for mass action in response to Newtown.
We urge you to sign it — at press time, more than 10,000 already had — so that Congress knows American Jews are of one mind on this issue.
In addition to Feinstein’s proposed assault weapons ban, how about restrictions on magazine and clip size? An end to unregulated gun shows? Surtaxes on ammunition?
And while we’re at it, how about restoring funding for comprehensive public mental health services?
No more Sandy Hooks, ever again. And may the memories of those murdered be for a blessing.