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Passage of Brady is
largely a response
to the public outcry
of taxpayers who
flooded their
representatives
with phone calls.
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against the extremist National
Rifle Association, a.k.a. the
powerful gun lobby.
Passage of Brady is largely a
response to the public outcry of
taxpayers who flooded their
representatives in Washington
with phone calls. Though no
one claims the Brady Bill will
solve the nation's crime prob-
lems, it is a step in the right di-
rection. The legislative action
is a sign ofkope. I am thankful
that most ofour legislators are
waking up, sulowing they are
interested in preserving the
sanctity of human life.
We must never forget that
guns are dangerous.
Ask any law enforcement of-
ficer if he or she has ever pulled
a trigger with the intent to
wound. You will find just one
answer: No.
An officer shoots to kill. A
gun's purpose is to kill. There
is no middle ground.
We hear too many stories
about the angry man who was
rear-ended at a stop light and
shot the person in the other car.
Or the 4-year-old who found his
father's loaded pistol under his
bed and shot his younger sister
to death by accident. Or the
teen who took a gun to school
"for protection" and shot a
teacher.
Take a close look at the sta-
tistics. According to the FBI
Uniform Crime Report, hand-
gun murders in the United
States increased from 8,900 in
1985 to 13,220 in 1992. In ad-
dition, 24,000 Americans are
killed each year (65 a day) with
handguns in homocides, sui-
cides and accidents.
In 1990 handguns were used
to murder people in Sweden,
91 in Switzerland, 87 in Japan,
n
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HALTING page 4
68 in Canada, 22 in Great
Britain, 10 in Australia and
10,567 in the United States.
More Americans were mur-
dered with firearms in the four
years from 1988-1991 than
were killed in battle in the 8.5
years of the Vietnam War. In
1990, 37,155 Americans were
killed with firearms. In com-
parison, 33,651 Americans were
killed in the Korean War, and
47,364 were killed during Viet-
nam.
And let's not leave out gun
violence in the schools. In a
1993 survey of District of
Columbia public school teach-
ers, 30 percent of the respon-
dents reported a student en-
tering the classroom with a
weapon used in a threatening
way.
A national survey of high
school students found that one
in 20 students had carried a
gun to school during a one
month period in 1990.
No rabbinical or talmudic
scholar ever took a position stat-
ing that a Jew could not protect
himself or herself. Yet, says
Rabbi Harold Loss of Temple
Israel, we clearly do not want
lives to be taken — which he
says is a good enough reason to
support gun control legislation.
"The availability of guns in
this country is causing lives to
be taken," Rabbi Loss says.
Rabbi Lane Steinger of Tem-
ple Emanu-El agrees. He bases
his view on the classical tal-
mudic interpretations of Rabbi
Yannai. A person is not sup-
posed to put himself or herself
in a position of sakanalt, or dan.-
ger.
"Guns clearly are a danger in
a society where people are not
trained to handle them appro-
priately if they are freely avail-
able," explains Rabbi Steinger.
"If they can be misused by peo-
ple like small children, guns
create danger. With this, we
can build a strong Jewish case."
I have some questions for
those of you who believe you
have a right to bear arms.
Do you know how to use a
gun? Do you understand its in-
tent? Do you really think it will
protect you? And are you will-
ing to pay the consequences of
an accident from that gun to
which you think you have a con-
stitutional right?
Is carrying a gun really pro-
tection? Is this what Thomas
Jefferson and the framers of the
U.S. Constitution really meant
when they drafted the Second
Amendment that states the
right to bear arms shall not be
infringed?
The original intent of the Sec-
ond Amendment was to protect
the security of a free state with
a well regulated militia. The in-
tent was not to allow anyone on
the street to walk around with
a loaded pistol.
The increasing availability of
guns, and the violence that has
erupted, has prompted many
Jewish human service agencies
to publicly endorse bills like
Brady.
Among the leaders: Nation-
al Council of Jewish Women,
American Jewish Congress, the
Union of American Hebrew
Congregations and the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee.
This month, the Jewish
Community Council of Metro-
politan Detroit will decide at its
board meeting whether to take
on gun control as a priority is-
sue.
I hope the answer is yes.
❑