Last week, Congress moved closer to passing legislation preventing domestic abusers and stalkers from purchasing or possessing guns, as Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12) and Rep. Robert Dold (R-IL-10) introduced the Zero Tolerance for Domestic Abusers Act (H.R. 3130). The bipartisan bill would close a loophole in federal law that allows some perpetrators of domestic violence to access firearms. Crucially, it would expand the definition of “intimate partners” to the definition used in the 2012 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act: someone who has been in a romantic or intimate relationship with the abuser. The bill also adds convicted stalkers to the list of those prohibited from purchasing and possessing guns.

Your calendar on June 21 is probably marked for a few things: it’s Father’s Day, the summer solstice and the longest day of the year. Yet this year, we’re marking our calendars for something perhaps just as important: National ASK Day. ASK, or “Asking Saves Kids,” is a campaign to keep children safe from accidental gun violence by empowering parents to ask if there is an unlocked gun in the homes where their kids play.

By Jenn Queen In gematria, Jewish numerology, the number 40 is incredibly significant. It is the number of days of the flood in Genesis, the years the Israelites wandered in the desert and the days and nights spent waiting for Moses to descend Mt. Sinai with the Torah. It is also an important figure of a new study published yesterday in the American Journal of Public Health: the percentage by which gun deaths have decreased in Connecticut since the implementation of handgun purchaser licensing legislation.

NFTY and the RAC are partnering with a broad coalition of national organizations to promote “Wear Orange,” a new national campaign to end gun violence in America. As part of the first National Gun Violence Awareness Day on June 2, the campaign is asking supporters to wear orange as a sign of solidarity and commitment to change in the face of an all too tragic status quo.

Continuing the same trend we’ve seen over many months, Congress has not made progress to address the crisis of gun violence, but federal inaction hasn’t stopped states from enacting their own laws. In Oregon, Governor Kate Brown signed into law the Oregon Firearms Safety Act, which will make background checks universal on all gun sales in the state, making it the eighth state to do so. And on the other side of the Columbia River, Washington enacted the Sheena Henderson Act, which allows family members to be notified when police return guns to loved ones, when those guns had been taken for safety considerations. The act was named after a Spokane woman who was shot to death the day after police returned guns to her husband who suffered from mental illness after he was judged not to be a safety threat.

On Thursday, the 15^th anniversary of the historic Million Mom March, NFTY and the RAC announced that we would be founding partners in “Wear Orange” (www.WearOrange.org), a new campaign to reduce gun violence in America. The campaign honors the 88 Americans whose lives are cut short by gun violence every day -- and the countless survivors whose lives are forever altered by shootings each year – by designating June 2, 2015 as the first annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day. And we’re inviting you – especially Reform Jewish teens -- to take part! Everyone who agrees that we should do more to save lives from gun violence to do one simple thing: Wear Orange.

When the Senate failed to pass bipartisan legislation that would have expanded background checks to almost all gun sales in April 2013, many in the gun violence prevention community were disappointed that this important reform was not achieved. This loss was especially more painful as the call for this legislation came in the wake of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This legislative loss did not change the need for strong laws that prevent gun violence, and the strategy to fight for safer communities was adapted for new arenas.

In April 2013, the Senate famously rejected an amendment to the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013 to expand background checks to most gun sales (often known as the Manchin-Toomey amendment), in large part due to concerns about a “national gun registry” and infringement on states’ laws. States’ rights remain a central feature of the conversation about gun violence, and have been raised again with the introduction of a new law.

I didn’t know Deah, Yusor, or Razan, so my grief over the past few days is not as immediate as their friends, family, and acquaintances, for whom I wish comfort in the wake of this unspeakable tragedy.