Too Little, Too Late!
by Gila Hayes
After October 7th, Israel’s government announced that they’re relaxing rules about their citizens going armed. Good as far as it went, however a surprising number of restrictions are still in place. “According to the ministry’s updated conditions, any Israeli citizen interested in obtaining a permit, either for self defense or because they are serving in the IDF, will be entitled to a gun license, provided that they have medical approval, police approval, and passed the exams for carrying private firearms,” so reports the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action.
Turns out the common idea amongst Americans that Israelis go about their daily business armed is not as true as we thought. In March, the BBC reported that “Israeli gun ownership is low at about 2% of the population. It compares to about 30% of the population owning a gun in the US.” Israel’s government also limited how much ammunition a citizen could possess.
Intermittent terrorist attacks have plagued the Middle East for as long as I can remember. The willful decision to put stumbling blocks in the path of individuals willing to go armed to defend themselves, their children and their neighbors now bears a crushing responsibility for the deaths of many innocent Israelis.
A less publicized lesson emerged from the defense of some of the settlements that also bears noting. The civilian security teams reported that they had been left with only handguns for defense because pilferage of rifles over previous years had prompted the IDF to take back many of the rifles provided to defend against the kind of bloodshed suffered in early October. Left with only pistols, the heroes defending the Israeli settlements show us that a determined defender armed with only a pistol can prevail. While mourning the lives lost, we should be inspired by the fighting spirit of the Israelis, using what they had to stop the Hamas terrorists.
Comments from Members
Last month’s lead article about the dangers of impromptu mob attacks generated comments, including a shout out or two calling for more video interviews plus several emails expressing concern that the appearance of more video in recent journal editions foreshadowed the end of written journal articles, following the example of modern video blogging so common on the Internet these days.
I’d like to reassure both factions. We are working in more video as the opportunities present themselves. At the same time, I do not expect to convert fully to video. That’s due largely to the serious nature of the topics we address in this journal.
In closing, I wanted to share a note I got after last month’s journal because it offered such good advice from a member who lives in a small West Coast community. He suggested:
I embody many of the “solutions” or habits that are mentioned by Michael Bane, although he did mention a few more that I will be considering. However, he did not mention one thing that I perhaps wrongly do regularly - but it does work for me. My trips almost always get done in the mornings.
I’ve observed that problems happen much later in the day and often during the evening, so I just don’t participate. As an example, I make my Walmart trip around 7:00-7:30 a.m. This has the added benefit of almost never having to listen to crying kids and the items are as fresh as they can be. The same is true for my occasional drives to Home Depot. They each open early, so I am in and out before the troublemakers are awake.
I appreciated our early-rising member’s suggestion. We face increasing threats from home-grown hatred and from violence funded and encouraged by nations and sects that despise Americans and all the freedoms we fight to preserve. We have to balance not retreating to our basements afraid to come out against not taking unnecessary or frivolous risks. Our member’s suggestion provided a great example.