An Important Public Health Issue
The Temple Sinai Gun Violence Prevention (GVP) Group seeks to educate, engage and activate members of Temple Sinai to confront the gun violence epidemic in our community and nation. In December 2019, the GVP Group received the Irving J. Fain Social Justice Award from the Commission on Social Action, Religious Action Center, Union of Reform Judaism for its “outstanding and innovative program”.
Since its inception in 2016, the GVP Group has organized over 20 educational programs and engaged in successful legislative advocacy at the local, state and federal levels. We have also joined GVP coalitions with both interfaith and national GVP organizations, and have sought effective ways to engage our fellow congregants.
A sampling of programs include:
- A community forum co-organized with St. John’s Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase entitled “Finding Common Ground with Gun Owners on Gun Safety Policies: Can Maryland Lead the Way?” View recording here.
- What Now?: Gun Violence Prevention Policy Options after “Bruen”, The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and the Results of the 2022 Mid-Term Elections. View recording here.
- An expert panel examined community violence intervention programs in a program entitled “Breaking The Cycle of Gun Violence Through Community Intervention: How to Define, Fund, Measure, and Sustain CVI”. View recording here.
- A special GVP Shabbat service featuring Steve Dettelbach, director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and over a dozen area interfaith activists. We observed the anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School gun massacre and also honored Tony Harris, former security guard at Temple Sinai, who was seriously wounded during an assault rifle attack in D.C. at the Edmund Burke School.
- Publication of a free 120-page digital toolkit by the DC Area Interfaith Gun Violence Prevention Network, which our GVP group co-founded with the GVP Ministry of the Washington National Cathedral. “Turning Faith Into Action: An Interfaith Toolkit to Engage the Faith Community on Gun Violence Prevention”, is designed to engage more houses of worship on GVP and is the most comprehensive “how to” manual for congregations to be published in many years.
- Helped organize the first gun buyback event in upper Montgomery County, MD in spring 2024. This program was conducted in partnership with the Montgomery County Sheriff, the Maryland State’s Attorney, houses of worship in Germantown, and the Interfaith GVP Network.
Contact Us
Jenny Cohen, Social Justice Coordinator
jcohen@templesinaidc.org
