14 May 9 • 2019 jn jews d in the continued from page 12 has been cycling through emotions such as anger and heartbreak and a “bleak sense of pride” knowing the rabbi tried to dissuade the shooter by talking to and reasoning with him before he himself was shot in the hands. Even that weekend, she overheard someone muttering hateful things about Jews at a gro- cery store. “ A shooting on the last day of Passover is the culmination of Jewish people celebrat- ing our freedom, ” she said. “But the truth is that we were never fully free. Chained by anti-Semitism and labeled as different, Jews have always been the scapegoat. “The person who took an AR-15-like weapon and shot four people for no other reason than them being Jewish isn’ t just a shooter; he is an anti-Semite. He went into the synagogue yelling anti-Semitic slurs. I’ ve never been in an active shooter situation. But people like the shooter are the reason why I am apprehensive to answer the question asked by so many people: ‘ Are you Jewish?’ Hate fuels hate. W hen I heard an anti-Se- mitic joke said by someone the morning after the shooting, it wasn’ t the first time and probably won’ t be the last. ” First-place winner Madison Strachan, a junior at Troy Athens High School, wanted to communicate that guns were just as acces- sible and tempting to children as candy. She created a jarring PSA with the help of her film teacher. The bang of the gun in the final frame is intended to make viewers jump. The PSA opens with a young girl hopping up on a barstool to eagerly inspect a colorful jar of candy. Strachan’ s voice narrates with a dull drone of some grim statistics about gun ownership in U.S. households with young children. … 4.6 million children in the United States live in a house with an unlocked fire- arm. … 73 percent ages 9 and under know where it is located. … 36 percent admitted they handled the weapon. As the child unwraps the candy, there is the bang of a gunshot and the screen goes dark. In our society, children under age 18 take the brunt of gun-related deaths. Between 1999 and 2016, 26,000 children under age 18 have been killed by guns, according to 2017 mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But, until they are voting age, they’ ve had little to no voice in the political process that can pass laws to stem the tide. Then Parkland happened. Taking the lead from the mass shooting survivors at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in February 2018, thousands of students around the nation mobilized the March for Our Lives movement, warning politicians they soon will be of voting age. If they don’ t change laws that can prevent gun violence, they will be voted out, movement members say. “If your gun is obtainable, a kid will be able to find it, ” Strachan said after receiving her award. “Film is a way to express yourself and tell a story. When you are a high school- er and you hear on the news how many mass shootings there are, it’ s always in the back of your mind if your school will be next. ” KASKY’ S STORY Jeff Kasky has been a formidable advocate for sensible gun control reform long before he was one of the hundreds of parents who waited, terrified to hear from their children who were inside Marjorie Stoneman Douglas on that horrific day in February 2018. His two sons survived the shooting, and his oldest, Cameron, went on to create the March for our Lives movement. Kasky, an attorney and a law enforcement officer, is himself a gun owner. He says he likes to go to a shooting range as a hobby and finds cleaning his gun “relaxing. ” But he is at odds with the long-reaching influence of the National Rifle Association blocking the existence of international back- ground checks (he says that won’ t happen until there is a digitized CDC gun owner registry). He believes that assault rifles used by the military have no business being in the hands of civilians. Kasky is president of the Families vs. Assault Rifles political action committee. He watched Cameron and other Parkland survivors take action in the name of com- mon-sense gun regulations. Kasky started the PAC so he and other Marjorie Stoneman Douglas parents could do their part and join this important effort. He was proud of his son for standing his ground with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at a CNN town hall meeting after the Parkland shooting. “(CNN) producers wanted to clear every question my son and others were asking, but when Cameron took that microphone, I knew history was being made, ” Kasky said. According to CNN, Cameron’ s question was “Can you tell me right now that you will not accept another single donation from the NRA?” Rubio did not answer the question direct- ly, but said, “The position I hold on these issues of the Second Amendment are posi- tions I’ ve held since the day I entered office in West Miami as an elected official. People buy into my agenda, and I do support the Second Amendment. ” Kasky said, “It didn’ t matter that my son was a teenager and Rubio was a politician. Politicians must give teens like my son their due respect. ” He urged those at the NCJW event to make donations to his organization if they could, to get active if they want to see change and, most of all, to get out and vote. “For those who hear about tragedies and say, ‘ That’ s terrible, what can we do?’ and then just turn away, they need to be part of the solution, ” Kasky said. “They need to get active, pound the pavement and take their lumps swatting death threats just like I and my son have. We could not do this work to make change without a multitude of volun- teers and donors. ” STATE ACTION JAC ii in April held a parlor meeting with about 20 young adults in attendance and invited State Reps. Mari Manoogian and Robert Wittenberg (who is affiliated with Temple Emanu-El and Temple Israel) to discuss the progress and challenges of getting gun vio- lence prevention legislation to the floor in Lansing. Legislators in the Michigan State House and Senate re-in- troduced bills this year that promote common sense gun laws. Wittenberg, co-founder and chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Caucus in the Michigan House, this year proposed “Red Flag” laws (keeping guns out of the hands of people who pose an extreme risk), finding more money for local gun-buy-back days, implementing universal background checks and ending the prohibi- tion on gun violence research. Wittenberg began serving in the State House in 2015 and formed the caucus with Jon Hoadley (D-Kalamazoo) in 2016. Now in his last term in office, he hopes to pass the torch to his colleague Manoogian. “ After the Sandy Hook shooting, I won- Jeff Kasky Rep. Robert Wittenberg LARRY LIPTON Rep. Mary Manoogian LARRY LIPTON “When you are a high schooler and you hear on the news how many mass shootings there are, it’ s always in the back of your mind if your school will be next.” — MADISON STRACHAN March for Our Lives protest, Detroit River Downtown, 2018 STACY GITTLEMAN