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