Israel to Further Embrace Armed Citizenry to Promote Public Safety

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Israel to Further Embrace Armed Citizenry to Promote Public Safety

Fairfax, VA – -(Ammoland.com)- After a spate of terror attacks in 2015, Israel opted to loosen its firearms restrictions so that more citizens could help to defend themselves and their communities. According to a recent report from Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the Ministry of Public Security is considering further liberalizing the country’s firearms licensing process.

Under current Israeli law, prospective firearms licensees must demonstrate a “personal or public need, as decided by the authorities” in order to obtain a license. As explained in a November 2016 document published by the Ministry, other eligibility requirements include Israeli residency for at least three years, fluency in Hebrew, and good health. Applicants are also required to complete a firearms training course and undergo an interview with the firearms licensing bureau.

The 2015 changes relaxed the guidelines on who qualifies for a firearms license. Specifically, the guidelines made more active and reserve officers in the Israeli Defense Force eligible, along with civilians who have completed one of several security guard courses. By the end of that year, there were a total of 264,679 firearms licenses in the country of 8.5 million. Private firearm licenses accounted for 143,943 of the total, while security guards accounted for the other 120,736.

Characterizing the new proposal, the Haaretz article noted that the new measure would “allow any citizen with infantry firearms training to be eligible for a gun permit.”

Israel has a system of compulsory military service, therefore a significant portion of the population has received some firearms training. In concert with this shift, the Israel Police and Knesset (Legislature) Interior and Environment Committee are working on a more comprehensive firearms license training course, upping the mandatory 2 hour lesson to four and a half hours. The Ministry estimates that the change will increase the number of citizens with gun licenses by 35,000 to 40,000.

Discussing the matter with Haaretz, Knesset Member Amir Ohana explained,

A civilian who carries a gun is more of a solution than a threat, and serves as a force multiplier for the security forces. Even in the most optimistic scenario, we won’t have a Special Ops unit in every neighborhood but during the terror wave we saw that skilled civilians save lives…. A law-abiding citizen with the basic necessary skills should be allowed to protect himself and his surroundings.

Ohana’s recognition of the role an armed citizenry can play in thwarting terrorist violence is similar to the sentiment expressed by former Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble to ABC News in 2013.

Noble stated,

Societies have to think about how they’re going to approach the problem…. One is to say we want an armed citizenry; you can see the reason for that.  Another is to say the enclaves are so secure that in order to get into the soft target you’re going to have to pass through extraordinary security.

The law enforcement official went on to add,

Ask yourself: If that was Denver, Col., if that was Texas, would those guys have been able to spend hours, days, shooting people randomly?… What I’m saying is it makes police around the world question their views on gun control. It makes citizens question their views on gun control. You have to ask yourself, ‘Is an armed citizenry more necessary now than it was in the past with an evolving threat of terrorism?’  This is something that has to be discussed… People are quick to say ‘gun control, people shouldn’t be armed,’ etc., etc. I think they have to ask themselves: ‘Where would you have wanted to be? In a city where there was gun control and no citizens armed if you’re in a Westgate mall, or in a place like Denver or Texas?

Moreover, the FBI has recently acknowledged the potential for armed citizens to combat mass violence. An April 2018 FBI report titled, Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2016 and 2017, stated,

Armed and unarmed citizens engaged the shooter in 10 incidents. They safely and successfully ended the shootings in eight of those incidents. Their selfless actions likely saved many lives. The enhanced threat posed by active shooters and the swiftness with which active shooter incidents unfold support the importance of preparation by law enforcement officers and citizens alike.

As the Ministry of Public Safety makes clear on their website, Israeli “law does not recognize a right to keep and bear arms.” However, it is encouraging that the small nation is moving in a direction that will allow more of its citizens to exercise their inalienable right to self-defense.


National Rifle Association Institute For Legislative Action (NRA-ILA)

About:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org

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pjw

A fortunate reality of today in our country is that armed citizens have proven to be a safe and affective counterbalance to armed threats to our population. Whether a terrorist or criminal threat a civilian who is armed and able is a deterrent. The record of CWP carrying citizens since for the past thirty plus years has demonstrated that
legally armed citizens are not a threat to public safety but contrary to the liberal press are a help and support to our
law enforcement.

tomcat

@ Wild Bill you caught me sleeping at the switch and that flew right over my head the first time. Good thing it wasn’t a missile.

tomcat

There is no conceivable reason to think that anyone in this nation would not be subjected to terrorism. Just look at the vast number of unvetted third world critters that have found their way to our country and leach off of us each and every day. At any given time one or more of them could spring up and declare Jihad against any innocent citizen.. Israel got it right. The liberals in this country could care less how many innocents get killed.

Wild Bill

@Tcat, Oh you mean that bat fee group from out east! They have a lot of “true believers”. Maybe Trump will get around to dealing with them when he is a little less busy.

tomcat

@ Wild Bill Yes I think citizens are going to get attacked more and more. They could even pick on women and children similar to what happened in Toronto yesterday. I read that the muslim group that has taken over Mt. Pleasant Mich has instilled Sharia law there. Maybe it would be a good thing if the government would give us a point for every terrorist we bag.

Wild Bill

@Tcat, You are probably correct and I should not joke about terrorists from back east like that bat fee (wink wink b.a.t.f.e.) terrorist organization.

Lord-Pi-314

I can’t help thinking that we wouldn’t have any Muslim immigrants in America, or Europe for that matter, if it wasn’t for all the Middle East wars that have been raging since the dual citizen neocons wrote their PNAC paper back in Y2K calling for a “NEW PEARL HARBOR” that occurred about a year later. Remember 911, 7 weeks after Lucky Larry Silverstein bought those 2 white elephants that needed a billion dollars of asbestos remediation or the city was going to shut them down ? Does anyone here know the story of how Lucky Larry acquired them with the… Read more »

SuperG

I think I’d just write down Palestinian terrorists as my justification.

Lord-Pi-314

The world never had any “Palestinian Terrorrists” until a bunch of Eastern European Ashkenazi Khazars ( fake Hebrews) decided to invade Palestine and steal the land thru genicide and ethnic cleansing, claiming that “God gave us this land”, when in fact their ancestors never set a toe in Palestine before that. In fact, America never had any enemies over in that niche of the woods until the Nakba occurred, which was when Rothschild and his Khazarian hordes invaded the place.

James Andrews

The Israelis are smart!

Mark Zanghetti

Yes, and one of the best nations in the world about dealing with security threats and they are starting to think that an armed citizenry is not a threat! A government learning, who woulda thunk it?

Lord-Pi-314

How come the Khazars, like “Mrs. Specter from Sweden”, a snake woman if you ever saw one, wants all the Muslim refugees to flood Europe and America, but they won’t take any in Israel. Gee, they could use them to help make the desert bloom. All that wide open area in the Negev and they won’t take a single refugee, and Mrs.Specter won’t let any come live in her house or neighborhood. And didn’t she receive the Kalergi Award not so long ago ?

Lord-Pi-314

@TC….
The Israelis are shrewd scheming genocidal land grabbers backed up with Rothschild funny money, stolen nuclear technology, and American might provided by corrupt American politicians who are bribed and blackmailed by the schemers who entrapped them in their honey traps and got dirt on them for taking bribes and screwing under age boys. At $3 Billion per year in “foreign aid”, how much of that is turned into kickbacks to TRAITOROUS politicians ? (You haven’t got a f’ing clue, do you). Wake up, the snake people have been taking us for a ride for decades.