Jews and guns
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July 6, 2011
An article that appeared in the June 15 issue of the NJ Jewish News, “NJ ‘Gun Rabbi’ teaches Torah of self-defense,” received an unusual amount of attention. It concerned a Livingston-based educator who mixes lessons in firearms with a Jewish defense of gun owners’ rights.
Although a few readers were critical, many more thanked us for running what one called an “unbiased” article. “Speaking as [a] gentile I have never understood the Problem that American Jews have with firearms ownership,” wrote one. “Too bad you guys live in the Peoples’ Democratic Republic of New Jersey, where gun owners are frowned upon,” wrote another.
On the whole, Jewish organizations and voters are advocates for more controls on gun ownership, not fewer. Yet the gun owners profiled in the article deserved as much respect as their opponents and any group, really, that sees its Jewish values expressed in their social and political activities.
Where gun owners lose our respect, however, is in championing bad laws that do nothing to protect the rights of responsible, law-abiding gun owners. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, for example, reasonably asks why — when over 32,000 Americans die each year as a result of gun violence — the federal government, since the lapse of the Assault Weapons Ban in 2006, continues to allow the sale of deadly, military-style assault weapons. RAC supports a bill, introduced by our Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D), which would make high capacity ammunition clips illegal.
The New York Times, meanwhile, reported on a “haphazard” process easing the ability of mentally ill people to have their firearms’ rights restored. A prosecutor in Virginia got quickly to the point: “I don’t believe that any reasonable person believes that a mentally ill person needs a firearm. The public has a right to be safe in their community.”
The battle over gun control is often portrayed as a fight between extremes, when in fact a wide and reasonable middle supports both responsible gun ownership and restrictions in the name of public safety. Jews on both sides of the debate should at least agree on this version of Torah: “Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace.”
Comments
Winghunter
July 07, 2011
It is unconscionable any loyal American, much less Jewish Americans, need to be educated and/or convinced that all modern firearms are their inalienable right to survive both government tyranny and the evil/insane.
In the age of the internet there are no sane excuses of ignorance, only psychotic denial and despicable fear.
More firearms and the moral responsibility of training in the use and self-defense law will reduce “accidents” as well as crime in direct correlation to the armed numbers added to the ranks of the loyal just as the infringements and outright bans exponentially increase personal danger from criminals and despotic government.
Additionally, those frightened sheep who have the audacity to dictate to others they must remain defenseless are conspirators before the fact. - Intentionally or not.
Joe Izrael
July 08, 2011
Where the NJJN loses my respect is repeating lies put forward by the fanatic anti-freedom extremists like the Religious Action Center of Reform “Judaism”.
The numbers are a) a fabrication and b) the result of illegal guns, obtained by criminals not because of lax gun laws but because of legislative and judiciary systems that are more sympathetic to criminals than to their victims, and are obsessed with “fairness” and preventing discrimination.
Simply put: there is one reason and one reason only why someone would deny ordinary citizens the means to arm themselves: being a dictatorial fanatic who has a personality and character similar to those of Stalin, Hitler, Mugabe, Pol Pot, Obama, Mombassa et al. Bloomberg and Schumer both own guns that are illegal in their own jurisdictions; they are both surrounded by security personnel carrying such firearms - yet they want to deny us the right to do the same.
Marksman
July 08, 2011
I have found most urban American Jews to be uninterested in firearms ownership and / or training. I know a few who I have taken to my gun club. They had never fired a gun or held one.
I forced my wife, very Jewish and I am not, to learn to fire a revolver. She can shoot well enough to defend herself if there is a need. And she knows where the gun is. Or guns. But just one revolver!
In times of Social unrest people have historically gone after the Jews. But the Jews I know generally are afraid of guns and assume the police will always be there to protect them. At least they are not paranoid I guess. I grew up with guns and the shooting sports are a hobby, as is golf. My guns are all registered and legal.
Peter
July 10, 2011
I’m glad to see NJJN doesn’t villify Jewish gun owners. That, at least, is a step in the right direction and a cut above other Jewish media outlets. However, I would ask the editorial board to think a little more carefully about “assault weapons bans.” Sure, it sounds reasonable on the surface. After all, we all want the same thing, right? We want to live in safe secure communities, and reduce crime, and who needs an “assault weapon” anyway. Well, if you scratch the surface just a bit, you will see that the ONLY thing that differentiates so called “assault weapons” from other commonly owned hunting and sporting firearms are cosmetic features.
Fully automatic or select fire rifles—true assault weapons used by the military—continue to fire as long as the trigger is depressed. These guns are illegal in NJ, and very expensive and hard to acquire even in the most gun rights friendly states. An assault weapons ban prohibits certain semi-autmatic rifles—one pull of the trigger fires one shot—that have certain features that have absolutely NOTHING to do with the function of the gun. For example, NJ’s assault weapons ban prohibits rifles that have more than one of the following features: collapsible stock, pistol grip, flash hider and bayonet lug, or any semi-automatic rifle that holds more than 15 rounds.
Do you really believe that these features have anything at all to do with public safety? A cowboy style lever action gun or a pump shotgun in the wrong hands is as or more lethal than a so called “assault weapon.” Please, get it into your head that these laws are nothing more than politically expedient, feel good laws. They have absolutely nothing to do with public safety. All they do is present traps for unaware law abiding citizens to fall into, which has happened a number of times in NJ.
Moshe Pupick
July 15, 2011
F., 07/15/11 common era
It’s very sad that all 3 Jewish Supreme Court Justices are against
an individual right to keep and bear arms. The Warsaw Ghetto Jews
with guns and ammo died fighting Nazis. They didn’t rely on interfaith candlelight vigils.
Donald Dineen
June 21, 2012
Although this is long after your article appeared, thanks to the JPFO site I was able to read the comments. It, the Jewish hatred of guns always baffled me. I worked in a Jewish owned store and we sold thousands of guns for hunting, self-defense and target shooting.
Yet, the young son of the business liked “assault weapons” for him, but not for others. He was disturbed at the use of the Star of David in the JFPO literature. I, not being raised a Jew, couldn’t understand it.
With all the crimes perpetrated against Jews, I could not understand why any Jew would not want to own multiple firearms. If a jewelery store owner needed one to protect diamonds, I thought life is much more prescious then some stones and gold.
With the murders during WW2, I just had assumed, and incorrectly so, that every good Jew would be prepared to fight any force wanting to kill them.
I consider myself closer to the Jewish faith then any other, and I think the life of good people is worth fighting for, Jew or gentile.