TIME TO WEAR ORANGE--A MESSAGE TO JEWS

Time to wear orange for ending gun violence, a sad commemoration every June, this year during the weekend of June 3-5. Socially minded Jews tire of the numerous causes to follow, join, and support. Slipping into complacency is not an option to combat the terrible curse of wanton shootings. In the last eight days, Americans were murdered in senseless violence in California, Buffalo, and New York City, perpetrated by individuals who own guns they should not possess and encouraged by hatred. We are not safe anywhere!  Americans have changed due to the violence we observe in our environment. Our children have been traumatized in ways unthinkable 30 years ago. I know I frequently look over my shoulder in public places. 

There have been more than 201 mass shootings in 2022 in the United States. After lethal incidents—involving firearms-- in the United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia, their parliaments passed laws banning automatic weapons and establishing gun buy-back programs which have decreased gun violence. In the spirit of Tikkun Olam, we must continue to pressure the U.S. representatives who are influenced by gun lobbies and who do not care that innocent people are gunned down, children die in gun accidents, and hopeless souls commit suicide by accessible firearms. 

Check out www.wearorange.org for local events during the weekend of June 3-5, 2022. 

The following are articles of interest: 

• Wash. Post Editorial on Buffalo Mass Shooting, May 17, 2022, "Tragedy in Buffalo: The carnage was the result of a lethal combination of guns and hateful ideology" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/16/buffalo-shooting-guns-white-supremacist-conspiracy-theories-tragedy/

• BBC, "America's Gun Culture in Seven Charts," ttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081

• Ashley Wong, "Katherine Massey, Buffalo Shooting Victim, Wrote to Newspapers Calling for Gun Control," New York Times, May 16, 2022,

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/nyregion/katherine-massey-buffalo-    victim.html

Thank you. Our lives depend on continued action. Information for this piece was shared by Barbara Faigin who receives regular communications from the DC Area Interfaith Network for Gun Violence Prevention.

Note: A day after I wrote this short piece, an thinkable tragedy happened again. 21 people were murdered by a lone gunman, including 19 children, in a school in Texas. This senseless event illustrates the severe problem in our nation.

© 2022 Karen Levi