Gun Violence Prevention: We Must Take Action

July 16, 2024Judy Wexler

The issue of gun violence became personal for me on July 4, 2022. On that day, this national crisis seized upon the quiet suburb where I grew up—about eight miles from where I currently live. During the Independence Day Parade on Central Street in downtown Highland Park, Illinois, a sniper stood on the roof of a local store and fired a rifle, killing seven people and injuring at least 48 others. Parade-goers used their own bodies to shield young children and the elderly, many ran for cover, and some sought refuge in local businesses. 

One of the seven casualties that day, Jacki Sundheim, was a member of my women’s group, the Women of North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Illinois. Jacki was a longtime member of our congregation and a part of the staff, and she was my friend. Many other friends and family were at the parade that day—a parade I had attended for years—and where I brought my own children when they were young, to celebrate the holiday with their grandparents. My heart has been aching for two years now, for those who lost their loved ones that day, and for my own community of Jewish women who lost one of our own.

As Women of Reform Judaism, we cannot stand by in a world where innocent people are shot and killed while watching a Fourth of July parade. WRJ acknowledged gun violence as an epidemic in our 1993 Resolution, “Gun Control.” We urged our members to fight for the implementation of strict federally mandated licensing requirements for firearms dealers and for numerous needed reforms in state and municipal gun control legislation. We based our resolution on the Jewish mandate to choose life, and to affirm the right of every human being to live free of violence.  

Following the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut; at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado; at a mall in Portland, Oregon; at a Sikh Gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin; at Virginia Tech University; and after the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others in Tucson, Arizona; WRJ issued another related resolution in 2013, “Gun Violence Prevention.” In that resolution, we called for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and we encouraged our members to become strong advocates for gun violence prevention.  

In recent years, we have borne witness to too many other mass shootings, including the 2018 mass shooting at Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which impacted our Jewish community; the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida; the Uvalde, Texas school shooting in 2022—and of course, the Highland Park shootings. Driven by the Jewish value of pikuach nefesh, or preservation of life, our religion condemns violence and encourages us to stand up against it. Jewish tradition teaches that one who saves a life is credited with having saved the whole world (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5). Acting to prevent gun violence will save countless innocent lives and countless worlds. To have a meaningful impact, we must work to help establish protections for all, particularly in communities disproportionately impacted by higher rates of gun violence, including women and other gender minorities, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community.

Between 2015 and 2022—when my local community was devastated—mass shootings where assault weapons were used resulted in 23 times as many people wounded and twice as many people killed per incident on average. Weapons of war and mass violence do not belong in our grocery stores, restaurants, houses of worship, nightclubs, and schools. Though we continue to pray for and remember the victims and their loved ones, prayer is not a substitute for action. Our elected officials must protect our communities by passing common-sense gun legislation, including a ban on assault weapons.

History proves that an assault weapons ban is effective to prevent violence and preserve life. In 1994, a national ban took effect until Congress let it expire in 2004. Compared with the 10-year period before the assault weapons ban was implemented, during the ban period the number of gun massacres (defined as shootings in which 6 or more people were killed) fell by 25 percent, and the number of people dying from gun massacres fell by 40 percent. In contrast, in the 15 years following the ban's lapse, there was a 347 percent increase in fatalities during gun massacres. Researchers estimate that if the ban was in effect from 2005 to 2019, it would have prevented 30 mass shootings that resulted in 1,478 people shot.

WRJ’s new 2024 resolution, Preventing Gun Violence Against Women, was recently approved by the WRJ Legislative Body. This resolution calls on us all to urge our elected officials to enact stronger gun violence prevention legislation, while we mobilize locally. We can implement programs on gender-based gun violence in our women’s groups and congregations, get involved in campaigns to support common sense gun laws, and donate to support survivors of gun violence, including organizations that work to disrupt and prevent intimate partner violence.

As members of a community who care about protecting those who are at great risk, let us educate our communities, take action, and advocate for our rights, so that no others in our midst fall victim to gun violence.

To turn our commitment into action, we encourage you to:

This blog was supported by Religious Action Center legislative assistant CJ Wechsler.  

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