Today’s Action: Fight white supremacy – and its weapons

Today we mourn the loss of life at the Congregation Chabad in Pomway, CA, where a shooter entered a synagogue during Shabbat services on the last day of Passover, killing one and injuring several others. The death toll could have been higher, had the shooter’s gun not jammed. This hate crime has landed six months after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, which claimed 11 lives.

Although the exact weapon has not been confirmed, witnesses have reported an “AR-type assault weapon,” an automatic or semi-automatic gun designed for one purpose: to kill en masse. And, the type of gun New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern banned within days of the Christchurch mosque shooting, which killed 50 Muslims.

Call or email your Members of Congress and tell them to follow New Zealand’s lead for a national ban on all semi-automatic weapons. Protecting 2nd Amendment rights does not mean allowing weapons with mass-murdering capabilities into our places of worship, schools, and public gatherings.

Contrary to what Republicans and their NRA funders claim, after Australia banned semi-automatic weapons in 1996, gun deaths plummeted and the murder rate began a steady decline that continues more than two decades later

The Pomway shooter’s manifesto was clear: white supremacy that reflected the irrational and manufactured fear of white displacement. Taking direct inspiration from the Christchurch mosque shooter, he also set fire to an Escondido, CA mosque two weeks ago.

This fear of white displacement is not new, and has been used by right-wing governments and dictators around the world to push for anti-immigration, anti-refugee, and anti-religious-minority policies. And as Trump and the GOP continue their crusade against people of color, removing the weapons of this hatred will be one way to save lives even as we fight to educate and legislate against violent and racist ideology.

Email or call (202.224.3121) your Members of Congress and demand a ban on military-style semi-automatic weapons. Remind them that New Zealand has already taken this step in response to the Christchurch shootings.

To all our Jewish OD Action community members and to all who mourn, our thoughts are very much with you.