Residents of Uvalde, Texas, gathered outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students were transported from Robb Elementary School following a deadly shooting massacre. Photo: Reuters/Marco Bello

US Jewish groups reacted with horror and dismay in the face of Tuesday’s deadly shooting massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that took the lives of 19 children and two teachers.

As further details of the slaughter emerged from the Robb Elementary School campus on Wednesday morning, with children aged between seven and 10 the principal victims, one Washington, DC-based Jewish advocacy organization issued a call for stricter laws governing gun ownership. The accused shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, had legally purchased two assault rifles and 375 rounds of ammunition to mark his birthday on May 18.

“What will be the tipping point for our country to finally act on sensible gun reform measures?” a statement from the Washington, DC,-based B’nai B’rith International asked, before listing some of the bloodiest recent episodes of gun violence in the US — from the Dec. 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut to the racially-motivated gun assault at a supermarket in Buffalo, NY, ten days ago.

“We would like to think we can never become numb to this madness,” B’nai B’rith commented. “Yet it seems our country is paralyzed by an irrational fear of taking action to stop this plague. But what about the fear now growing in more and more of our citizens: fear of going to school, of attending services at a house of worship, fear of stepping into a grocery store or a movie theater.”

The group urged the US Congress “to unite on this issue. We need sensible gun reform measures now.” The statement added that “sensible gun reform won’t stop all gun violence. But we need to start someplace. It is well past time to take that step forward.”

Other US Jewish groups offered their hopes and prayers to the grieving families, as did several Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and President Isaac Herzog.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said it was “devastated, outraged and heartbroken.” A separate statement from the American Jewish Committee (AJC) declared that “once again we feel despair, rage, and shock at another senseless act of violence,” while the World Jewish Congress (WJC) said that there were “no words to describe our sorrow and heartbreak in the wake of this senseless tragedy.”