Last Saturday (September 24, 2016) members of the Shomrei community, prior to its annual slichot services, were privileged to hear fellow congregant Megan Lewis discuss gun violence in America, and what steps are being taken to try to reduce what has become an American epidemic. The talk was the followed by an extensive question and answer period.
After graduation from NYU Law school magna cum laude, Megan devoted her life to public service. Currently she is Executive Vice President of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country. Everytown grew out of Mayors Against Illegal Guns , formed in 2006 by then mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg and Thomas Menino, mayor of Boston. Initially 15 mayors, the group grew to 855 mayors by the end of 2014.
On December 15, 2012, one day after the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting massacre, Shannon Watts began a Facebook page entitled “One Million Moms for Gun Control”. Within one year the group had grown into an advocacy group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (Moms Demand Action) with 130,000 members and chapters in all 50 states. Modeled after Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, Moms Demand Action merged with Mayors Against Illegal Guns to form Everytown for Gun Safety in April 2014.
Megan explained that Everytown is now a counterbalance to the NRA which for years had gone unchallenged as they supported the proliferation of guns and fought against efforts at expanding gun safety measures and measures to prevent gun proliferation. Realizing that they could not muster 60 votes in the Senate for sensible gun control even after Sandy Hook, while the majority of Americans support sensible gun laws, the group is now also concentrating its lobbying efforts on state legislatures. In an effort to bring the issue directly to the people, Everytown is also supporting state ballot initiatives bypassing the state legislatures. Megan was optimistic that Sandy Hook was a watershed event which will ultimately turn the tide in favor of laws which will prevent guns from being possessed by those who endanger the lives of others (e.g. felons, and those convicted of domestic abuse) while respecting second amendment rights.
In response to a question about what we can do to further the cause of gun control, she suggested that we all join Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (momsdemandaction.org). This is a group which operates on many levels from organizing Orange Walks to honor the lives taken by gun violence in America (just preceding the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting), to creating the Mother’s Dream Quilt Project (symbolizing the human toll of gun violence in the country) to lobbying our congressmen and to supporting those on either side of the aisle who support efforts at ending gun violence.
Rabbi Greenstein concluded by saying that Judaism places the highest value on the preservation of life. Even if there is a chance of loss of life, we must drop all else and do whatever we can to maximize the chance of saving of a life.
“School Supplies” © Mike Licht used with permission via Creative Commons License.
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