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A Win for Gun Violence Prevention in Washington State!
Yesterday, along with the US Senate and House of Representative elections and numerous elections on the state level, voters in Washington state chose not to stand silently by any longer in the face of gun violence. Ballot Initiative I-594 to institute universal background checks including for private sales in Washington passed by an overwhelming majority of 59.7% while the counter-initiative that would have prevented background checks in Washington State failed resoundingly. Laws similar to this one have been passed by other states, including last year in Maryland where the new law has already led to a significant drop in gun deaths state-wide.
There’s More to Gun Violence than Mental Illness
Newtown. Aurora. Tucson. These three shootings, at an elementary school in Connecticut, at a movie theater in Colorado and at a constituent meeting in Arizona, are just a few examples of the mass shootings that have captured the media’s attention in the past few years. While the shootings have sparked discussions on gun violence in this country, they have also led to conversations about the intersection of gun violence prevention and mental illness. In each of these cases, mental illness was at one point or another discussed as a potential cause of the violent crimes committed in these three towns. Whether the shooters in these attacks were mentally ill or not does not impact the importance of keeping guns out of the hands of people with mental illness. Moreover, the focus on gun violence and mental health can be limiting.
Shining a Light Through Our Sorrow: Two Years After Newtown
December 14, 2014 marks the second anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. In 2012, 20 school children and 6 teachers were shot in the single deadliest shooting since Virginia Tech in 2007. After the Newtown shooting, the Reform Movement once again joined with the interfaith community and renewed our long-standing efforts to support gun violence prevention legislation, and provide resources and prayer services for our communities for healing. We worked tirelessly on the Manchin-Toomey bipartisan bill that proposed universal background checks for gun purchasing we were deeply saddened when Congress failed to pass that important legislation.
I-VAWA? WE-VAWA: We All Must Do Our Part to End Violence Against Women and Girls
One out of three women worldwide will be physically, sexually, or otherwise abused during her lifetime. In some countries, it’s as many as seven in ten. Violence against women is a human rights violation that devastates lives, fractures communities and prevents women from fully contributing to the economic development of their countries.
Take a minute to think about the things we do every day: go to work, go to school, provide food for ourselves and for our families. We generally do not equate these tasks with putting ourselves in danger. But, that’s not the case everywhere. Often, the perpetrators of violence against women and girls commit that violence while women are on their way to work or to collect food and water, or while girls are on their way to school—that is, if they are allowed to go to school at all.
Getting Ready for Election Day
Election Day in the United States is just a few days away, and we hope that those who are able to are planning to exercise their democratic freedom and vote this Tuesday, November 4!
On Veterans Day and Every Day, Honoring Those Who Serve
On this day in 1918, the warring parties in World War I put down their weapons and effectively ended what was then the bloodiest, most destructive war in the history of the world. Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, or Veterans Day as it is known in the United States, is now a day for us to give
The House Takes a Step towards Banning Guns for Domestic Abusers
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.
Stop Cuts to Family Planning
The past few weeks have brought mixed news in the realm of sexuality education. At the end of June, we wrote about a House sub-committee vote to eliminate programs proven to reduce teen and unplanned pregnancy, reduce abortion and save tax dollars in Fiscal Year 2016.
Since then, a Senate sub-committee voted to advance similar cuts, proposing a budget that would significantly cut funding for the evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPPP) and for Title X family planning centers, while increasing funding for abstinence-only until marriage programs by 300 percent. By gutting funding to family planning services for low-income individuals and undermining evidence-based programs like TPPP, these appropriations bills would leave millions of Americans without information and services to keep themselves safe and healthy.
Reform Movement Responds to Election Results
In response to the 2014 midterm election results, Rachel Laser, Deputy Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued a statement:
Reform Movement Horrified by West Bank Terror Attack
Our hearts are heavy today after learning of a vicious act of terrorism in the West Bank, in which Israelis are suspected of setting the home of a Palestinian family on fire. Tragically, the fire claimed the life of a toddler and badly injured others. Rabbi Jonah Pesner offered thoughts on the tragedy: