I’m a Jew and I don’t hate guns. Nor does the rabbi or Mr. Zimmerman. In fact, we three TTAGers—and millions of other American Jews besides—see firearms as the key to our personal and collective survival. And the survival of our deeply cherished Constitutional rights. But there’s no doubting the fact that some American Jews (e.g., New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Chuck Schumer) spearhead the boneheaded push for gun control. This website and the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) have never shied away from this unconscionable truth. The JPFO have just published an article on Jewish hopolophobia. The full screed is unflinchingly comprehensive. Make the jump for the short-form top ten list . . .

1. A desire for utopian moral purity
2. A disproportional incidence of hoplophobia
3. A quest for power through victimization of peers
4. A utopian delusion that if guns would just “go away,”
crime would end and the world would be a peaceful safe place
5. Self hatred and a wish to be helpless, acting out guilt-based
behavioral problems that develop in childhood
6. The Ostrich Syndrome
7. Garden-variety hypocrisy
8. Adulterated religion — Jews In Name Only (JINOs)
9. Feel-good sophistry
10. Abject fear that yields irrational behavior

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

53 COMMENTS

  1. If any group of people has reason to be overwhelmingly in favor of gun ownership and the RKBA, it’s Jews. But, tragically, people like Bloomberg, Pelosi and Schumer simply fail to learn from history, or they just don’t want to.

  2. I think Number 4 “A utopian delusion that if guns would just “go away,” crime would end and the world would be a peaceful safe place” has a lot to do with all liberal thought. Liberals have this deep rooted belief that people can be perfected if they will only do as the liberals think they should. The world will be come a veritable utopia if only people will see that liberals have everything figured out and simply follow their guidance.

  4. Robert, have you read “Death by Gun Control” from JPFO? I’m currently working on the book, which details gun control laws that preceded genocides in the twentieth century. There is also anecdotal evidence in the book that details how a show of arms works to scare off would be murderous thugs.

    • It’s a great book. The JPFO offers an excellent DVD out based on the book called ‘Innocents Betrayed’.

  5. I think you meant Dianne Feinstein, not Nancy Pelosi (who professes to be Catholic). In any event, most Jews are historically and currently citydwellers in the country’s most liberal bastions without any personal or family history of using guns as tools (hunting, defending homesteads/livestock from 2-legged and 4-legged predators). They also have a higher percentage of their population that has graduated from college. Both deep blue cities and universities are liberal echo chambers where most folks hold the same reflexive anti-gun ideology. Jews in Israel tend to be a lot more open to firearm ownership. 24/7 threats to life and limb can change one’s view of self-defense tools.

  6. “Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Nations AND PEOPLES who forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.” -Robert Heinlein, emphasis mine

  7. This –> 3. A quest for power through victimization of peers Is probably true of black leadership and groups as well. It is IMHO, the base idea of the democratic party leaders in general.

    • Years ago, I read a piece by the JPFO that covered how the top three groups which – correctly or not – perceive themselves as being a victim culture are the most anti-gun or in support of gun control. The groups the piece identified are Jews, blacks, and women.

  8. I guess this is the biggest difference between “Jews” and “Israelis” I was born and raised Jewish. I also then lived in Israel and served in the IDF. To that end not every Israeli loves guns. My first wife didn’t like them at all, yet I have a picture of her shooting an RPG. As persons they may not care for them but they also understand their necessity in the country in which they live. I don’t hate guns, far from it. I don’t dislike a person if they aren’t gun crazy, but why does it seem the left government in my state finds it perfectly ok to tell me what I can and can not do, by passing laws to deprive me of my rights?

    • You might be surprised. My Japanese wife has gone from “no guns in the house” to “I want my carry permit”. It’s amazing what a little range time and truthful conversation can accomplish.

      • I know plenty of Asians and Asian-Americans who don’t like guns. But doesn’t it seem odd that they’re disproportionately represented in the shooting world? But yes, one-on-one gun introductions work better than global programs. Exhibit #1: Justice Kagan.

        • Does anyone remember the Rodney King riots? Who were defending their stores with guns when the police could not or would not?

  10. I read the publication.
    1. I find very little if any of it relevant to Jews, per se, as opposed to the anti-gun left generally.
    2. From personal experience, I find that most anti-gun Jews harbor only mild anti-gun views. In fact, most I’ve encountered like the *idea* of armed Jews, but were not raised around firearms themselves, and live in social circles that disapprove of guns. So, they are OK with armed Jews, and especially proud of Israel’s military reputation, but shooting or guns are “just not for them personally.” Are there (high profile) extreme leftists, sure, but not to the extent that the publication implies.
    3. A phrase from the publication that seemed the most relevant was “go along get along.” This seemed to me the most relevant and applicable to secular Jews and is, in my opinion, a guiding principle of the branch of Judaism known as Reform Judaism. For more on my thoughts:

    http://jewishmarksmanship.blogspot.com/2011/08/understanding-jewish-opposition-to-gun.html
    4. I keep a list of prominent pro-gun American Jews, and always welcome tips on people to be added:
    http://jewishmarksmanship.blogspot.com/search/label/Jews%20Supporting%20the%20Second%20Amendment
    5. I have mixed views on JPFO. I am quite certain it is not a harmful organization, but their rhetoric is, in my view, a little too charged to act as a bridge to firearms ownership for timid Jews. Too much preaching to the choir instead of much needed proselytizing. I never brow beat. I am simply persistent about bringing my fellow Jew to the range, and after a day of plinking a 10/22 at steel chickens, their views on guns are forever changed.

  11. For those who don’t know I am Jewish. I don’t love guns and I’m far from being a guy who likes to go shooting or hunting for the fun of it. However, I do respect and appreciate civilian gun ownership for many reasons. I like gun owners who are really passionate about liberty and are also realists about history, politics, and life. I’ve learned and grown much the past five years from associating with gun owners. I feel a great sense of spiritual kinship with many Christian gun owners who believe and value the principles of the Judea-Christian tradition, liberty, personal accountability, honor, self-reliance, etc.

  12. More power to anyone that arms themselves. In the US, jewish people as a group run a tight public relations game. Evangelicals on the right want to be them. Leftists envy their victimhood narrative’s power. My guess would be that any diaspora/minority people benefit more from working with elites than engaging in physical violence. Compare the deification of mlk to the negativity of something like the new black panthers. Soft approaches work in this soft society.

  13. Not that it matters but I never knew you or Zimmerman were Jewish (I’m not that dense as to not figure “The Rabbi” out.) I don’t follow US Jewish populations closely but I was under the impression most Jews are democrats and a large portion of them live in New York and LA. I think that would explain it more than any Jewish hoplophobia.

    • Actually many Jews are republican, but a large group are democrats as well, especially here in CA.

      • My wife and I, as well as three of my kids are conservative Republican Jews. One daughter is a former state police officer, and currently has a CHL; another daughter is a PhD with a CHL; another] daughter is a lawyer (not a “shyster type”) who will shortly be getting a CHL. My PhD daughter shoots competitive handgun, which I wrote about here in length in an older discussion on the problems she had with CPS when trying to adopt two young brothers. My relatives in the NY, PA, NJ area are very anti-gun, and chastised me at family get-togethers for owning guns and being in law enforcement. Good jewish boys don’t carry (or own) guns! Can we all say, “Never Again!” ?

  14. Well, first of all, he should distinguish that this is American Jews he’s talking about. Israeli gun culture is non-existent and their gun laws are overly restrictive, but carrying is no big deal. Make of that as you will. Anyways, a huge part of it is that the reform movement’s “religious” platform is basically the same as the Democratic party’s political platform. That accounts for quite a lot of the pro gun control sentiment right there. Mix that in with:

    1. a traditionally urban population with no rural gun culture
    2. bad recent history with guns. American Jews weren’t fighting it out with the Arabs recently, that was the Israelis. The last major gun-related history American Jews had was getting slaughtered in the holocaust by them.
    3. lionization of victims (right-wing Orthodox folks don’t like Yom HaShoah because it lionizes the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, and not the masses who went quietly to the
    gas chambers)
    4. So many Jews are from NYC, gun control capital of the USA. What do you think they’re being taught in schools and in the newspapers? The good news is that, in my experience, most Jews are willing to at least give it a go if you offer to take them shooting, so there’s a lot of conversion potential there. Whatever else, we’re not stupid. 🙂

  15. My Jewish neighbors have both asked me about guns and what to buy. I think they’ve changed their mind about gun control. Now we just get the Obama bumper stickers off the cars and call it progress.

    • LMAO.. Yeah I think as things continue to degrade more and more people in general are buying. At first just for in the home, those of us who want to hunt will, and then they start asking questions. As soon as you want to carry, and can’t the benevolence regarding the gun laws turns to anger. Up till now you never owned a gun so who cares right? Now it affects you directly. Imagine spending the $400 or so for all the permit application fees and sitting for hours to write the perfect just cause case only to be told sorry no! Then it really hits home.. Chainsaw has a point. There isn’t much in the way of a gun culture, and yes the laws are not that simple, but despite all that it certainly seems like everyone has one. Maybe it was just the circle of people I hung out with, but everyone I knew carried, or like me if you were in the army, you had one openly displayed. I know a lot of Americans who felt uneasy about seeing so many plain clothed and uniformed soldiers carrying fully automatic weapons around openly. You get used to it I guess, but there isn’t a culture because it is a need, not a want. Everyone there knows that terror could happen any minute, and be prepared. I served with a large number of orthodox Jews in my regiment. They are about as fanatical as they come. Really great friends but you don’t want to be on their bad side.

  17. There is no need for hoplophobes to fret; they can move to England where firearms are prohibited right now but they’d better leave the US Bill of Rights alone.

  18. Historically, European Jews were denied the right to own firearms in countries like Germany and Russia, where most European Jews lived. Jews are not allowed to hunt for food because they are prohibited by the bible from eating the meat of any animal not killed in accordance with Jewish law, while trophy hunting is considered a form of animal cruelty and is also prohibited. With no firearms tradition in Judaism and guns typically used against Jews by despotic regimes, it’s no wonder that hoplophobia reigns.

    • I think you are confusing the Germany of 1933-45 when talk about Germany banning Jews from owning firearms. Jews in Prussia and Germany from 1870 forward were allowed to own firearms like any other German.

  19. So if we get rid of all the firearms can I go back to wearing a sword with dagger to protect myself from criminals who no doubt be armed like wise? Fools and their money in this day and age have to much say through their respective governments.

  20. Hmm, I am Jewish and can equip a rifle team and all the ammo they will need for 4 months. It is good to be a conservative! I would like to add a more pivotal number 11. to the list. 11. Forgotten that their people were slaughtered by the millions during WWII.

  21. Some Jews are part of the Liberal Democrat Elite and as group it seems that they are part of the Liberal Big Government Spearhead. It seems most Jews live in and around large cities and are higher educated so they are fairly well indoctrinated with the Liberal Government University mindset. I find most of them to be actually opposed to the concepts of Liberty and Freedom, unless it of course benefits their interests. Bloomberg and Rahm Emanuel are good examples. Israel is really a Fascist Country as well. A lot of Jews are not like as I earlier described with Aynn Rand, Rose and Milton Friedman being some of them. I am actually glad that people such as Rabbi and other Jews on this forum are taking somewhat of a more Libertarian approach to guns and other subjects than the usual Jewish crowd. Keep the ball rolling.

  22. I was born and raised as a Reform Jew. I haven’t voted Dem for President, nor any US Senator or Congress-critter, ever. I love guns, I carry whenever possible, I believe that, unless your a felon or adjudicated as nuts, then Constitutional Carry would be great….do I think my state will adopt it, nope, not likely. All of my relatives are Reform or Conservative Jews, all vote Dem, and I can only think of one or two that have ever shot a firearm, and that was military service 1960-1970 (no combat time, reserves) or so. Many of them thought I was nutz just for enlisting in the military, but by the time I retired (21 yrs, all active, in 2007), some had changed that tune. Some of the stereotypes about Jews in the US are accurate, many live in bigger cities, went to college and never got into hunting, shooting, etc….and how many people end up voting like their parents? I owe a lot to my dad, US Army (1961-1969), patriotic, loved guns, shot skeet. If not for him, I might not have joined the military…but I probably would have still me some guns! I am conservative, I believe that the Bill of Rights is being shredded more & more every year, and sincerely hope that the looney left doesn’t make a play for any type of gun grab.

  23. Jewish liberals are just regular liberals, it’s just that they’re really good at it. Now that the Stockholm syndrome of the post-holocoust era is wearing off, we’re seeing Jewish liberty lovers. And they’re really good at it.

  24. Lets see, a government where the citizens were disarmed and there was a well armed and authoritative government has never worked against people of the Jewish faith or descent.

  25. Actually, I never believed that “Jews hate guns” – especially after reading about the Warsaw ghetto Jews’ resistance to the Nazis (held off several thousand soldiers with about 18 guns), and the fighting by the Israelis against the Arabs who tried to eliminate Israel. I do believe, however, that “urban liberals hate guns”, and in certain areas (such as NYC) this groups includes a fair number of Jews as well as members of many other religions. It is unfortuante for the freedom-loving Jewish firearms owners of America that the media tends to see only the urban liberals of the Jewish faith, and ignores the folks who are determined to defend themselves against govenment tyranny. Hey, the only way the media will cover a gun owner is if they can portray you as a “redneck” or a “gun nut”.

    • The position a large number of Jews hold with regard to firearms doesn’t stem from Judaism so much as it stems from their overall political beliefs, which they in turn use Judaism to justify.

      In short, they use the concept of Tikun Olam (loosely translated ‘To make the world a better place’) to justify their leftist ideology, while actively ignoring almost every other aspect of the Jewish faith.

  26. JPFO is a very interesting website, and although I’m not Jewish, with such a website and growing curiosity about it, maybe many of the strongly anti-gun crowd who view guns Only through emotion instead of logic will begin to see things in a rational way.

    Unfortunately it is difficult to get even one person, who is unfamiliar with guns to a range, due to time conflicts, unpleasant weather etc.

    IdahoPete:
    That’s an excellent point about the media needing to attract people to its ‘rags’ by equating guns with rednecks.
    Notice in movies such as “Starman”
    (Bridges/Karen Allen) how regular hunters are portrayed by Hollywood, and that’s far from the only example.

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