The tragic school shooting in Georgia should be a wake-up call for the frum community in Bergen County. Thank God the frum community has not suffered a school shooting perpetrated by one of its own students. Perhaps that is due in part to low levels of gun ownership in the frum community. But it is no secret that since Oct. 7 gun ownership in our community has skyrocketed. Consider the recently introduced gun advertisements in The Jewish Link, the many members that carry concealed weapons in our shul (with or without the shul’s permission), or a quip a guest lecturer recently made in our shul that Jews in Teaneck no longer greet each other with “Shalom aleichem” but instead with “What are you carrying?”
Our community is certainly not immune to mental health issues nor to the impact that violent videos and video games (available on the internet, gaming consoles and smartphones) can have on vulnerable young adults. Perhaps our community feels a false sense of safety that this could never happen here, but unfortunately it can. As gun ownership becomes even more ubiquitous in our community the danger grows that, God forbid, a child will gain access to a gun while on a playdate or that a young adult bullied in yeshiva or that feels lonely will turn it on themselves or others.
