On December 2, two assailants – in assault-style gear and with high-powered firearms – entered a social services agency in San Bernardino California. They killed 14 people at a holiday party and injured 21 others. Just a few days earlier, a heavily armed gunman stormed a Planned Parenthood center in Colorado Springs, Colorado leaving three dead and another 7 wounded. These are just two of the 353 mass shootings in the United States during 2015.

Our tradition teaches us of the sanctity of life and how each and every person is created in the divine image. We must directly confront gun violence so that our nation is not marked nor the years measured by senseless massacres.

No American should have to live in terror, knowing a gunman with a semi-automatic rifle could walk into any building and kill dozens. No American should have to die that way. It is up to all of us to prevent this butchery and bring a sliver of justice to victims.

We stand united and call on our leaders to support comprehensive action, including meaningful legislation to limit access to assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines, aggressive enforcement of firearm regulations, and strengthen social services that can help identify troubling behaviors and intercede when necessary. We refuse to accept a dystopian vision of America where schools, social service agencies, houses of worship, community centers, shopping malls, theaters, and other venues are locked-down and fortified, or where our public and community spaces are the sites of carnage.

We, the undersigned, ask that President Obama, Congress, and every citizen to take direct and unequivocal action to stop the outrageous and unacceptable violence that is destroying the fabric of our society.