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Move Us to Reduce Gun Violence

2/15/2018

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By Rabbi Jonathan Biatch
 
Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if she saved an entire world. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5; Jerusalem Talmud 4:9; Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 37a)
 
Praying for the souls of the dead,
support for the survivors and their families
and courage to press forward
with gun control in this country.
Radical love is the antidote for radical hate.
The heart of our work is recognizing
that our humanity unites all of us.
We must use every ounce of our being
to counter this culture
of dehumanization that infects our communities.
(--Rabbi Shawn Israel)
 
Let me say, at the outset, that my anger has been riled up again.
Let me say, at the outset, that I am not sorry for my anger.
And let me say, at the outset, that I want to use my passions for the truly achievable goals of gun control.
 
But there are some things I just don’t understand:
 
I don’t understand that unusual kind of pride when a legislator impedes legislation that can save lives.
 
I don’t understand the astonishing kind of patriotism that blindly defends the Second Amendment through heartless contributions to politicians who will do their bidding only to stay in office.
 
I don’t understand the moral blindness of national leaders who turn away from parents whose children literally have been stolen from them and with whom they will never share another life achievement.
 
I don’t understand the callousness required to deflect attention from a commonsense debate on the need to reduce gun violence with the tired mantra of “Today is not the day to debate gun legislation.”
 
I don’t understand the heartless and calculating political mind that offers a facile condolence message after a gun tragedy, but then refuses to apply the political will to change laws to save lives.
 
There are so many things I do not understand.
 
Since the shooting in an elementary school in Sandy Hook, CT, in 2012, there have been at least 239 school shootings in our nation, in which 138 people were killed, 300 more were injured, and countless hundreds suffered the psychological effects of trauma, which will haunt them for the rest of their lives. And according to the Gun Violence Archive, already in 2018 alone there have been 1,829 deaths from gun violence incidents nationwide.
 
Every day that we avoid the difficult but achievable work of preventing gun violence, the NRA, the gun manufacturers, and the politicians who are beholden to them, get richer and more entrenched in office.
 
According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, an overwhelming majority of our citizens want to enact common sense gun control legislation:
 
Levels of Support for national gun measures:
94% - 5% support requiring background checks for all gun purchases
93% - 6% of voters in gun households support universal background checks;
79% - 19% support a mandatory waiting period for all gun purchases;
64% - 32% support a ban on the sale of assault weapons;
86% - 12% support a ban of the sale of guns to people convicted of a violent crime;
58% - 38% support stricter regulations on ammunition sales;
64% - 34% support a ban on high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
 
I can understand these numbers, for these data must compel us to push for gun violence reduction.
 
So, today is the day when we must talk about ways to prevent gun deaths.
 
Today is the day when we commit ourselves to address the out-of-control and widespread availability of weapons and ammunition.
 
Today is the day when we legislate for thorough background checks on any prospective gun buyer anywhere within our nation’s boundaries, and we insist that criminal, military, and civil court data bases be scoured for any and all facts that could disqualify someone from purchasing a gun.
 
Today is the day when we reinstate the ban on assault weapons and outlaw the manufacture of ammunition for any automatic or semi-automatic weapon available to citizens in our country.
 
Today is the day when we allocate more dollars for mental health services, to speak to the pressures that people feel which drive them to create scenes of carnage.
 
Today is the day to seize courage to confront the so-called gun lobby, and to tell our national legislators that they can successfully break the addiction of campaign contributions from peddlers of murder.
 
All it takes is for us to get angry and involved.
 
The poet Aaron Zeitlin wrote:
 
“Praise me,” says God, “I will know that you love me. Curse me, I will know that you love me. Praise me or curse me, I will know that you love me. But if you sit fenced off in your apathy, entrenched in – ‘I don’t care,’” says God... “if you see suffering and don’t cry out… if you don’t praise and don’t revile, then I created you in vain,” says God.
 
Today is the day when we must be involved. Today is the day when we refuse to back down.

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CURRENT PROPOSALS WILL HARM LOW-INCOME WISCONSINITES

2/15/2018

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You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer (Deuteronomy 24:14)
 
As people of faith, we believe that work is sacred and brings dignity to the worker. However, current proposals before our state legislature and coming from our federal government threaten that dignity and will harm low-income Wisconsinites’ ability to make ends meet. Our faith traditions teach us to honor the worker, to pay her appropriately and in a timely way, and to reach out a helping hand to those in need.
 
Many of these proposals – such as drug testing and work requirements, have no purpose other than to shame and stigmatize the poor. The real shame, though, is to a society whose policies and structures serve to keep people in poverty.
 
These proposals, Special Session AB/SB 1-5, and Special Session AB/SB 8-10, have passed in the Assemby and next week will be before the Senate. Among the provisions of these bills:
  • Work requirements for ‘able-bodied adults’ to qualify for FoodShare (food stamps)
    • Exempted are adults caring for children under the age of 6. However, there is no provision for job placements to take place only during the school day. This leaves parents with the choice of losing food benefits or paying for after-school care.
    • Further, the FoodShare Education and Training program has been shown to be inadequate to providing stable, well-paying employment, but it has been shown to result in needy Wisconsinites losing access to nutrition.
    • The reality is, when an adult loses their FoodShare benefits, the whole family suffers, as FoodShare is allocated per household, not per family member. This legislation will result in increased hunger for low-income Wisconsinites. 
  • Photo ID for FoodShare cards – Photo ID’s are expensive, and ultimately unworkable, as many states have found.
  • Drug testing and employability for low-income housing –
    • low-income able-bodied Wisconsin residents who otherwise qualify for public housing would be required to be screened by local housing authorities to determine if they are unemployed or underemployed, requires the housing authority to create an employment plan, and the resident to follow the plan. However, local housing authorities have no expertise in creating or administering employment plans. Further, to deny public housing to someone based on their employment status only serves to exacerbate unemployment, as stable housing is an important factor in obtaining stable employment.
    • Drug-testing is simply an effort to stigmatize the poor and discourage them from applying for benefits.  There is no evidence to suggest low-income Wisconsinites are any more likely than the general population to engage in drug use. Further, no additional funding or support services are offered, either to assist with employment or to address treatment for drug use.
Click here for more information on these and other Special Session proposals.
Please call your Senator and ask them to oppose these bills.  Find your legislators here 
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