Central Conference of American Rabbis Renews Demand for Gun Violence Prevention Legislation in Wake of Texas School Shooting

May 24, 2022

With hundreds of millions of Americans, the Central Conference of American Rabbis is horrified by the mass murder at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. With at least 18 students, a teacher, and the assailant dead, this killing is the deadliest in an elementary school since the Sandy Hook massacre a decade ago.

Before and since Sandy Hook, Reform rabbis, communities we serve, and our partner organizations in and beyond the Reform Movement have been among the millions of Americans repeatedly calling for gun violence prevention legislation. [i] Facing a gun industry which has purchased untold power in Washington and having experienced too many decades of advocating in vain, we could be forgiven were we to despair. We might even ask whether mass murders such as this have become so routine that they do not merit our focused attention. We vow never to become desensitized to murdered children and grieving parents.

Prayer alone is inadequate as a response to such horrors as this. We will not be silenced, but will once again raise our voices for gun violence prevention legislation. We will never stand idly by while our neighbors bleed (Leviticus 19:16). And we will also pray. For the lives lost. For the futures never to be realized. For grieving families and their communities. For healing of those wounded. For leaders to have the courage to place safety and lives over partisan politics. For the healing of our bleeding nation.

Rabbi Lewis Kamrass, President

Rabbi Hara E. Person, Chief Executive

Central Conference of American Rabbis

[1] CCAR Resolution on Gun Violence, August 2015