12 | APRIL 20 • 2023
opinion
When Is Enough, Enough?
O
ver 30 years ago
I completed my
presidency of the
community relations agency of
the Jewish Federation of Metro
Detroit, an organization now
known as JCRC/
AJC. Thinking
about the future
and reflecting
that I had just
spent three
years building
bridges with the
leadership in
both political parties and the
leaders of the community’s
religious and ethnic groups, I
contacted two of the women
leaders I deeply respected to
establish a new cohort. We
planned for a group of women
to work on one of the day’s
most troubling and challenging
issues — gun violence.
Then Detroit City Council
President Mary Ann Mahaffey
and former First Lady of
Michigan Helen Milliken
joined me in sending a letter to
more than 200 women leaders
to see who would be interested
in legislation, education and
advocacy around this issue. We
named the group, Enough Is
Enough, Women Against Gun
Violence.
Of the over 200 letters to
women leaders, we received no
negative responses, and most
of the women joined with us.
Over the next 10 or so years,
we met to learn about gun laws
and guns.
One of our members, a state
police officer, brought a variety
of guns to a meeting to teach us
the terms, the usages and the
methods used to modify guns
to become more deadly.
Once in, Washington, D.C.,
I spent hours studying the
Second Amendment in the
Constitution and reading the
discussions by the founding
fathers while they formulated
the amendment.
Our organization listened
as constitutional law experts
explained the Second
Amendment and noted that it
did not refer to the individual
citizen but to militia groups
such as the National Guard
units in each state.
James (Jim) Brady, President
Ronald Reagan’s press secretary,
had been struck down at
the time of the assassination
attempt on President Reagan in
1981. Brady, seriously disabled,
and his wife, Sarah, ultimately
established an organization
called the Brady Center to
Prevent Gun Violence. Our
group took their mission as our
own.
We “worked to enact and
enforce sensible gun laws,
regulations and public policies”
through our grassroots efforts.
In 1994, the Brady Bill
went into effect requiring a
background check and a five-
day waiting period before the
purchase of a handgun. Four
years later, long guns were
included. We later learned
that gun deaths dropped 27%
between 1994 and 2001 with
the onset of the new legislation.
Under President Bill Clinton,
assault weapons were banned
in 1994.
But, it was frustrating, slow
work, and we were often
discouraged by the pace and
lack of real progress.
“Criminals will continue
to have guns,
” people would
tell us. “Guns will not change
criminal behavior.
” And, “We
have to have guns to protect us
from criminals.
”
In 2004, the assault weapon
ban was allowed to expire.
We were a group of chiefs
without a lot of worker bees.
We slowly stopped meeting,
moving on to issues which
seemed more hopeful and
solvable. And now I ask,
were those the “good old”
days? Remarkably, since
then weapons have greatly
“improved.
” We now have
large-capacity magazines on
guns which allow more people
to be killed in a shorter time
with more brutality.
These days, our children are
being gunned down in school
and in their neighborhoods.
Our shopping centers are not
seen as safe places. Our coun-
try is awash in guns. The rate
of deaths in children from
firearms is the highest in the
United States by far. There are
120 firearms per 100 people
here. Yemen is next with 52 per
100. Suicides and unintentional
deaths (accidents) are rising.
We could do many things
to change the situation. Our
Michigan legislature is working
on changes for safe storage of
guns and other improvements
affecting easy gun access. Our
Jewish organizations, like
NCJW/MI, are meeting in coa-
litions to educate and advocate.
But I continue to feel despair
at the pace of change and con-
cern that we are not making
significant improvements. We
should be doing more nation-
ally.
So, after more than 30 years,
I have to ask, “When is enough,
enough?”
Jeannie Weiner is a freelance writer
in Metro Detroit and former president
of the Jewish Community Relations
Council.
PURELY COMMENTARY
Jeannie
Weiner