WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — In response to the House of Representatives’ passage of the Thompson-King Amendment to provide $19.5 million to improve background check records related to gun purchases, Rachel Laser, Deputy Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement:
“The scars of gun violence are present in too many of our communities, and we now add to the list of gun-related tragedies the horrors of one week ago in Santa Barbara. Thursday’s {May 29} vote in the House is far from the needed, comprehensive solution to the problem of gun violence, but we are hopeful that this vote signals the beginning of Congressional action in response to the thousands of innocent lives lost each year to gun violence. Background checks are a crucial safeguard preventing guns from falling into dangerous hands. Thousands of missing records will be added to the system because of this vote, but this is just a small step. Only six out of every ten gun purchases include a background check. We must continue to push for every gun sale to include a background check.
“The Jewish tradition emphasizes the sanctity and value of human life. The Bible commands, ‘Thou shalt not murder’ (Exodus 20:13). The Talmud teaches us that ‘he who takes one life it is as though he has destroyed the universe, and he who saves one life it is as though he has saved the universe’ (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5). The carelessness with which guns take human lives stands in direct contradiction to our moral obligations.
“We will continue to carry out our moral duty by working to ensure this gun violence prevention measure is passed in the Senate and by continuing to fight for universal background checks and other measures to protect Americans nationwide from the scourge of gun violence. ”
*
Preceding provided by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Rachel
I have several issues with your post:
– The house passage does not guarantee the bill’s passage in the senate:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/house-approves-background-check-funding-ammendment
– There was another weapon used in the rampage last week: The BMW. Should we consider banning cars? While I deplore what happens in these cases, it is not guns or other weapons; it is psuedo science and religions that cause hatred, prejudice and greed. Religions have been around for thousands of years and have not solved anything. Religions have directly or indirectly been responsible for millions of deaths. Should we ban religions? I am just questioning your assertions and not making any of my own!
– The post by Ron Cohen above is very thorough about gun violence facts and his comments are very rational
– The biblical phraseology seems kind of out of place since the bible is full of hate, violence, and wrong doing being condoned by an angry god! Did not David murder his best friend for the sake of getting his friend’s wife. Religious books of all faith proclaim it is ‘kosher’ to kill others and take property in the name of the book
– The shameless use of the Press Release process to further one’s career! It is an interesting tactic.
The Pew Research Center reported that 56% of Americans believe that gun related crime has increased over the last 10-20 years (“Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak; Public Unaware Pace of Decline Slows in Past Decade.” By D’Vera Cohn, Paul Taylor, Mark Hugo Lopez, Catherine A. Gallagher, Kim Parker and Kevin T. Maass. Pew Research Center). The problem is that gun related homicides have decreased 49% since 1993 and gun related violence has decreased 75% (This is the site for the U.S. Justice Dept., FBI violent crime report and leads you to all the sub-reports and tables:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/violent-crime).
During this time of dramatic decrease in gun violence, gun ownership has almost doubled (estimated 190 million guns in people’s hands in 1993 and about 160 million sold in the last 8 years). In 1993, there were 19 states that offered “shall issue” concealed carry licenses. “Shall issue” means that if a person passes a background check, the locality MUST issue a concealed carry license. Now, there are 49 “shall issue” states.
With this increase in gun ownership and dramatic leap in the number of people with concealed carry licenses, there have not been the explosion of Wild West shootouts in the streets as predicted by the Brady group, but a decrease in gun related crime.
So, the perception of increased gun crime ignores the actual decrease in gun related violence.
I can’t imagine the sense of loss felt by the people who have lost their loved ones to this disturbed man in California (knife, guns and car as weapons), or to Holmes in Denver (shotgun), or at Virginia Tech (the perpetrator passed his background check for his pistols and LOW capacity magazines) or at Columbine (my son lost friends there). However, the infamous “however,” the reaction of people to these highly publicized events in the call for more gun restrictions obviously is misplaced because more guns have not meant more gun violence, but just the opposite. It reminds me of my father-in-law who used to say, when we discussed politics, “don’t confuse the issue with facts.”
I don’t mind having a background check and I think that all gun transfers should require background checks except in the case of a transfer to family members. In Colorado, that is the case, but most gun shops won’t do the private transfers so most of the private gun transfers have turned regular people into felons. But don’t think that such a policy will stop gun crime. It is a cliche, but I will follow the rules, and the determined psychopath or gang banger will ignore the laws and commit their dastardly crimes.
Respectfully,
Ron
I strongly disagree with you, gun control will not save one life and might end up killing the inncent people you wish to protect. I happen to be Jewish myself and if you look into our history gun control has always been used against us.