The Rev. Robert Moore, Princeton
Our hearts are broken, and our prayers and condolences go out to the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, the largest in U.S. history. Of the eight such high-profile mass shootings in the past year, starting with Charleston, seven of the shooters used assault weapons. It is the weapon of choice for mass shooters.
These weapons of war are designed to kill as many as quickly as possible on the battlefield. It is outrageous and unconscionable that we allow these weapons in our civilian communities. New Jersey passed one of the first assault weapons bans in the nation, and has the strongest ban still today—it’s the only ban with no grandfather clause.
When the National Rifle Association tried to rescind New Jersey’s ban in 1993, we were proud to be a major part of successfully mobilizing citizens to prevent that. In the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a legislative miracle in over 40 years of violence-prevention organizing, not a single member of the New Jersey state Senate voted to rescind the ban in March 1993. We showed that the stranglehold of the NRA on elected officials could be overcome.
The following year, in 1994, a national assault weapons ban became law. Tragically, it was allowed to expire in 2004. If such a ban were still in place now, the mass shootings above might well have been prevented, or at least would have resulted in fewer casualties. Toward that end, we need to generate the political will to reinstate the national assault weapons ban.
There are common-sense additional measures that could help prevent future mass shootings, such as the bill sponsored by Rep. Donald Norcross to prevent those on the terrorist watch list from being allowed to purchase guns; and the bill in the New Jersey Legislature that would remove guns from those involved in domestic violence situations.
But such measures will only become law if enough concerned citizens join us and our sister gun violence prevention groups in building sustained pressure on elected officials to do so. We invite all who believe in common sense measures like those above to join us by visiting peacecoalition.org and clicking on the Ceasefire NJ link, or by calling (609) 924-5022.
The Rev. Robert Moore
Executive Director
Coalition for Peace Action and
Peace Action Education Fund
Princeton
