Aurora bomb squad robot searches a suspect's
Aurora bomb squad robot searches a suspect'sReuters

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.”