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Friday April 23, 1999

We must prevent school massacres

Once more, the massacre in a Colorado high school reminds us all too chillingly that it can happen again.

Timed to take place on the 110th birthday of Hitler, the carefully planned slaughter took at least 15 lives. It was the work of a couple of angry misfits who identified with the Nazi subculture, collecting guns to perform the worst episode of carnage that ever took place in an American high school.

It is all too easy to view such incidents as isolated occurrences perpetrated by one or two sociopaths. But there are too many such incidents and too many such sociopaths for us to turn away. This is the seventh shooting in an American high school in less than two years -- each of them the work of students.

What's more, the militia movement -- which targets Jews and other minorities -- is especially virulent in the West, where right-wing "super-patriots," fortified with rhetoric and weaponry, prepare for Armageddon.

While the beliefs of such groups are abhorrent, the ready access to guns and other weaponry is particularly threatening to Jews, not to mention the wider community. And we cannot buy the National Rifle Association argument that restrictions on the possession and sales of guns by "law-abiding citizens" mean that only outlaws will have them. A weapon at the wrong time can transform a previously law-abiding citizen into a murderer.

When such incidents play out in the national media, the whole country is affected, and we as a Jewish community must respond. It is critical that we not only address the fears and concerns of our own students and congregants but act in concert to prevent further such tragedies.

We must explode the myths of the militia movement, through Jewish community organizations and interfaith coalitions. We must also take action to beef up the safety of our schools. We must take legislative action to control access to guns. And we must address the bigger issues, including how we cope with troubled people in a troubled society.

Jews have too many memories of massacres.

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