The “Colorado Batman Massacre” might have been prevented if there
were adequate anti-gun laws, says a Jewish victim of a 1999 shooting
attack in Virginia.
Joshua Stepakoff was shot in the leg when four Jews suffered injuries
in the shooting spree by a white supremacist in August 1999 at the
North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, California.
Now age 19, Stepaoff told Los Angeles KCAL Television after the
massacre in Colorado, “It saddens me a lot to know that somebody else
has to go through the same thing I did.”
Regarding how to prevent shooting attacks that have become a plague
in the United States the past several years he said, “We’re not going
to have Columbine, Colorado, Virginia Tech… We’re not going to have
all these things if people start to understand guns kill people.”
However, contrary to Stepakoff’s views, the “Jews for the
Preservation of Firearms Ownership,“ which opposes tighter gun
control laws, pointed fingers at the penal system. It
stated, ”Lunatic mass murderers will not be stopped by gun bans or
confiscations; those with criminal intent will always find a way to
access firearms. If we revoke freedoms and liberties in reaction to
every tragedy, we will soon not only outlaw all guns, but also
knives, screwdrivers, hammers, pipes, and eventually pens.
“But blaming the tools is just a small step better than blaming the
victims. Instead, let’s put the blame where it belongs: on the
murderer.
"At best, he should be given a life sentence with no chance of
parole. But feel-good sophists — the same feel-good sophists who
would confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens who want no more
than to have a tool to defend their families — want us to ignore the
criminal and blame the tool.”
The organization describes itself as being “founded by Jews and
initially aimed at educating the Jewish community about the
historical evils that Jews have suffered when they have been
disarmed, JPFO has always welcomed persons of all religious beliefs
who share a common goal of opposing and reversing victim disarmament
policies while advancing liberty for all.”