In the wake of last week’s senseless tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, please join JWI in thanking President Obama for his remarks on Sunday and calling on him to put gun control legislation and access to mental health services at the top of his agenda. This is a first step in what we hope will be a concerted effort to build a world free of violence. Please add your voice to ours by co-signing our letter.
By Miri Cypers, Senior Policy and Advocacy Specialist
This week, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York signed into law an important piece of legislation that prevents individuals convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors from buying firearms. Although federal law already bars this practice, differences between New York State and federal law created a gap, allowing the names of these criminals to evade the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Stricter gun laws are critically important in preventing the abuse of women, especially for those who have already been victimized by intimate partners. According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, “In two thirds of battered women’s households that contained a firearm, the intimate partner used the gun against the woman, usually threatening to shoot/kill her (71.4 percent) or to shoot at her (5.1 percent).”
For more information, about Governor Cuomo’s efforts, please visit his website.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged brady campaign, criminal background check, domestic violence, gun control, New York State
Rabbi Sharon Brous – a JWI Woman to Watch in 2009 – wrote an “On Faith” essay for the Washington Post this week about the role of inflammatory political language in last weekend’s shooting in Tucson.
“For two years we have watched as political leaders and members of the press have made incendiary rhetoric not the exception but the rule in Washington and around the country… Those who have been in politics from the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement and the most contentious years of the Vietnam War have warned us that they have never seen an America as dangerously divided as our country is today.”
Read “Vitriol + Guns = Disaster.”
JWI is an increasingly audible voice on Capitol Hill advocating for federal legislation that addresses domestic abuse, sexual assault, human trafficking, reproductive choice, economic security and gun violence. As leaders in the faith community, we work in coalition with secular and faith organizations, and we are proud to be a powerful force within the Jewish community. Please join our advocacy network and help make the world – and your community – a safer place.
