Common sense
After the Newtown killings, the usual voices on the Left, and especially the Jewish Left, want to take guns away from everyone. Those in the NRA and the far Right want to take guns away from no one.
Common sense is somewhere in between. I can’t think of a single reason why civilians should have access to automatic assault rifles like the kind used in Newtown. One doesn’t hunt with an assault rifle; one kills the maximum number of people with such a weapon. And it is insane that anyone can go on-line and buy enough ammunition for these rifles to invade a small country. Surely the NRA can see the difference between guns for self-defense and hunting and weapons of mass murder.
On the other hand, nothing makes more sense than the NRA’s position that there should be a trained, armed guard in every school. We offer such protection in every museum and mall; surely children deserve at least as much protection. Israel knows something about lunatics, and they have an armed guard in every school. Throughout Europe, every synagogue is guarded by armed police. Visit any yeshiva and imagine how easy it now is for a crazy guy or a terrorist to walk right in with a gun. There is literally no one to stop him. It is madness not to insist that our kids be protected.
Abe Krieger
Highland Park
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