Hadassah, the women’s Zionist Organization of America, announced today that it has petitioned every member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives to support effective gun-control legislation and pledged that its 318,000 members in all 50 states will “keep this issue alive until the proper legislation has been passed.” The announcement, by Mrs. Mortimer Jacobson, national president, was regarded as an unprecedented action by the organization which has hitherto concerned itself with projects to develop Israel and help its needy. It reflected the growing concern in the American Jewish community for strong Federal control of the proliferation of firearms. A similar appeal to Congress to pass President Johnson’s gun-control law was made today by Rabbi Joseph Karasick, president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations.
Mrs. Jacobson said, “we have called upon every member of the House and the Senate to support, with all the vigor at his command, a bill that will outlaw the sale of mail order firearms of any kind; require registration of all firearms; and make it mandatory for all persons owning firearms to be properly screened and registered.”
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