News From Israel and Canada Highlight Why Defending Second Amendment Rights Here is So Critical

By
Larry Keane
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62


Citizens in two countries are reminding Americans that Second Amendment rights and a robust firearm and ammunition manufacturing base cannot be taken for granted.

Israel is preparing for a ground invasion into Gaza after more than 1,400 of their citizens fell victim to Hamas terrorists storming into their homes, murdering, torturing and dragging off innocent civilians as hostages. That nation’s response was to streamline firearm permits and order Israeli Defense Forces to distribute tens of thousands of firearms for self-defense.

Meanwhile, Canada is hitting the pause button on their forced confiscation of privately-owned semiautomatic rifles. Officials there are finding that stripping firearms from law-abiding citizens is a daunting task. Canadians are rejecting amnesty periods to surrender their firearms to the government, knowing that it leads to their government taking away the ability to defend themselves.

That’s not a lesson that’s lost on Americans, especially in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks, the rising antisemitic hate speech within the United States and individuals on the terrorist watch list crossing the U.S. southern border. Local reports indicate that more Americans are exercising their uniquely American right to keep and bear arms, especially Jewish Americans.

Israel Loosens Restrictions

Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has been at the forefront of updating his country’s firearm permitting laws. Only two percent of Israel’s population possesses firearms, compared to at least 30 percent in America. There is nothing akin to the Second Amendment in Israel.

Firearm ownership and possession are strictly regulated. Ben-Gvir, though, is working to streamline those processes. He began before the Hamas terror attacks but those reforms have now taken on a newfound imperative after Israelis were left defenseless in their homes when Hamas terrorists killed men, women and children.

Ben-Gvir moved to ease restrictions and speed up the permitting process in February 2023 for recently-discharged Israeli Defense Forces, police, firefighters and active reserves to obtain a permit to carry guns. Those reforms would allow police issuing the permits to skip a personal interview requirement and require only the filing of a health declaration to obtain the permit.

Gun control in Israel is strict. Before Ben-Gvir’s reforms, that were approved by the Knesset National Security Committee, only those Israelis who could prove a need for extra security in their line of work of life were granted permits. Even then, only one gun, along with 50 rounds, was allowed. By April 2023, over 12,000 permits were approved.

“When civilians have guns, they can defend themselves,” Ben-Gvir tweeted.

The unthinkable happened and Ben-Gvir has since ramped up efforts to arm more Israelis. Following the attacks, he posted on social media that Israel’s Firearms Licensing Division was to “go on an emergency operation, in order to allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves.”

That expedited process allowed for phone interviews instead of in-person screenings for permits. Ben-Gvir also noted that 1,800 Israelis forced to hand over their guns to the government in the six months prior to the attack for lack of a training renewal certification would get their firearms back.

Ben-Gvir also ordered the National Security Committee to buy 10,000 rifles to arm civilian security teams, specifically in border towns as well as communities with mixed Jewish-Arab populations and West Bank settlements.

Itamar Ben Gvir
Courtesy Itamar Ben Gvir Twitter

“We will turn the world upside down so that towns are protected. I have given instructions for massively arming the civilian security teams,” Ben-Gvir said.

Ayala Ben-Gvir, wife of the National Security Minister, in social media postings urged Israeli women to arm themselves for self-defense.

“This is a call to the women of Israel,” she wrote. “We made the exams easier for you, even women who have done a year of national service are eligible following the reform we completed this week – for a gun license. I call you all. Go arm yourself.”

Some 100,000 Israelis applied for permits in the two weeks following the Hamas terror attacks, and Ayala Ben-Gvir asked for patience, even with the expedited process.

“Carry a weapon as soon as you can. It’s a life saver,” she wrote.

These permits are still Byzantine by American Second Amendment standards. However, they are moving in the direction of enabling Israelis to protect themselves in their homes instead of becoming helpless victims to depraved terrorists. That’s a stark comparison to what is happening in Canada.

Canada Clings to Confiscation

Canadian authorities just postponed the confiscation date for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s gun-grab confiscation plan to seize nearly all semiautomatic rifles from law-abiding citizens. Israel is turning closer to valuing self-defense. Canada is determined to deprive their citizens of that natural right. Officials there are learning that it is easier said than done.

In May of 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau skipped the Canadian Parliament and unilaterally issued an edict banning 1,500 makes and models of semiautomatic rifles. He seized on a tragic murder to justify his move, saying it was for the public’s safety. The deadline for Canadians to register their rifles was set to expire at the end of the month but has now been delayed until Oct. 30, 2025 – conveniently scheduled 10 days after the next elections.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Canadian government officials peg the cost of the forced confiscation “buyback” at $750 million. Critics say it is closer to $1.6-$5 billion in just the first year. Canadian officials said it is impractical for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to round up the guns. Canada’s military said it doesn’t want to be involved. Provincial officials have lambasted the plan, with officials in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick promising to halt confiscation and withhold funds.

“For those keeping track, that means the government has no plans to deal with the guns they said were so dangerous they must be seized until five and half years after they banned them,” wrote Bill Lilley a columnist for the Toronto Sun. He added, “Do you get the feeling Trudeau’s announcement all those years ago was all about politics?”

Meanwhile, in America

Closer to home, Americans are watching world events and are not taking their Second Amendment rights for granted, especially Jewish Americans. David Kowalsky, owner of Florida Gun Store in Hollywood, Fla., told NBC News, “I’ve seen a surge in interest in individual training as well as group training.” Kowalsky is also Jewish and noted that synagogues requested training and shooting sessions with most participants being first-timers.

“These are mothers, teachers, the majority of them are mostly people who have never interacted with firearms or thought about owning them,” Kowalsky said. “There’s a safety concern. I think people are nervous about what’s going on and what can happen.”

NBC reported that Rabbi Yossi Eilfort, who runs Magen Am, a Los Angeles self-defense nonprofit, tallied over 600 calls in one week following the Hamas terror attacks and violent rhetoric in the United States.

“We can’t put down the phone without picking up the next one,” Eilfort said. “The calls for self-defense training, situational awareness training — ‘How do I make my shop or my institution a harder target?’ — has just been really, really nonstop.”

Yehuda Remer is an Orthodox Jew and Second Amendment activist. He’s known as the Pew Pew Jew on social media and has been posting pictures of those attending his training.

“Another Jewish couple becoming their own first responders,” Remer posted. “Hey critics. Shhhhh! No need to say anything. It was their first time, and they already booked another session and plan on each getting guns that fit them.”

The terror attacks that brought tragedy to Israel and Canada’s myopic determination to strip citizens of their ability to defend themselves are poignant reminders of why NSSF and the entire firearm and ammunition industry values the Constitutional freedom to keep and bear arms.

 

Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

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62 COMMENTS

  1. I hope Israelis get rid of the “National Security Minister” because it was vividly demonstrated that is not a good policy in their neighborhood nor any other place in the world.

    • Should they also go back and dig up all the previous national security ministers and retroactively fire them too? Should they also get rid of themselves retroactively for not doing something about this obviously flawed policy sooner?

  2. “We made the exams easier for you…”

    A government-imposed gateway to exercising a natural right is still a closed door unless/until that government chooses to open it up for you. After answering their questions correctly, of course, and paying fees, and jumping through the right hoops, and giving up property privacy.

    • Ya know at the large Baptist church we attend they had a guest minister talk about last day’s prophecy. He has a large presence in Israel as well as several Mideast countries some quite unfriendly to Israel. And he’s supported partly by Mikey Bloomberg. Basically satan to American gat owner’s. That’s a line in the sand to me. Like being a Canadian rifle owner voting for Castro’s bastard boy. Or voting for Dimscum© in ILL annoy…if Israel has any clue they will provide all the jewish folks who need a gat ready access. And not allow hippie “music festival’s” within eyesight of Gaza. Duh🙄

    • People think that if they vote someone in without knowing for a fact their stand on gun rights, “Oh well, we can just vote them out next time around if they do something stupid.”

      Yeah, well…If that “something stupid” is removing your natural right to keep and bear arms followed by confiscation, and they decide they don’t want to leave after the election, then what you gonna do?

  4. Israel’s who gun policy and permitting system confuses me. Virtually every Israeli male is either an active duty soldier, a reservist, or a veteran. The same is true of about 1/2 to 3/4 of Israeli females. (Women get far more exemptions from military service, but the draft still gets most of them.) There are a couple religious exemptions that delay, but don’t exempt young men from the draft.

    So, basically, every Israeli is trained to handle weapons responsibly.

    So, WTF is the problem with arming them?

    Oh, I forgot. Authoritarian azzholes are found in all demographics.

    • There’s a big section of Israel’s population who are “religious students” who don’t work, live on welfare, breed like rabbits (to the point they are a significant percentage of the population), and are exempted from military service.

      • Yup, “If” the Israelis were smart, they would dump universal suffrage and switch to a qualified electorate, only those who served to protect the country in the IDF, get a vote and can hold positions of authority in government. Switzerland used to do this and have suffered by opening up the vote to all.

        The entire proportional representation scheme needs to go too, as these small, fringe (some crazy) political parties act as “King Makers” in the government, when none of them could win any office on their own.

        These “Religious Scholars”, 99.9% of whom are Orthodox or Religious Jews, need to be de-funded and get jobs. If the need for “Religious Scholars” is so great, let them form a charity that funds them, not the taxpayer. Since they don’t serve in the IDF, they shouldn’t have any voice in how the country is run.

        At the heart of the problem, is that for the most part, even the “Conservatives” in Israel and European governments are really just liberal democrat/socialists and don’t believe in the Rights of the Individual or personal Responsibility. Individuals only exist to serve the state and the collective goals of the “People”. I doubt Europe, Marxist Canada or Israel will fix themselves.

        • All my life I’ve been told how hardcore righty Israelis are. Are you telling me there’s been some sort of propaganda going on to make American righties more enthusiastic about Israel?

  7. Haman would approve of Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir’s criteria for issuing firearms to his subjects. Fortunately; Queen Esther needed only one night with King Xerex to persuade him to issue a decree that enabled the Jews to arm themselves.

    • You mean that Israelis don’t run around arm in arm with Christians blathering on and on about Judeo-Christian this-and-that the same way that Christians in the United States do? My god, I wonder if they’re even aware that they’re our greatest allies.

      • What is this Judeo-Christian you speak of?

        Rabbinical Judiasm is a religion centered around self-worship and the explicitly rejection of Jesus Christ.

        Muslims consider Jesus a prophet. Honestly, Christianity has much more in common with Islam than with Judaism.

        I don’t think Jesus would approve of bombing churches.

        • I don’t think Jesus would approve of hamas using churches as tunnel covers, headquarters, ammo supply and attack launch points, and then crying “think of the palenstinian people” while using them as human shields while it wages war in a war they started with the intentional slaughter of innocent non-combatant civilians whi8hc includes the “palenstinian people”.

  9. palestinians are semites. anti- semitic is not a referral to religion or culture, but to origin, largely the sevant but other nearby regions as well. the assyrians took it from sumeric to aramaic, the egyptian muslims changed it to arabic, and all the while hebrew survived. sort of like latin.

    • Unknown to most is “some” so-called Palestinians are closely related to many Jews. Non-kissing cousins as it were. In the 7th century some Jew’s “converted”to Islam rather than become slaves or murdered. Like in Spain where they pretended to be Catholic(that didn’t matter to the Inquisition). In the 21st century use anti-semitic means anti-jew.

      • Thanks for that history. Thomas Sowell has several videos on You tube. About Jewish history. They are very helpful.

  10. In reality the Israelis were not prohibited ever from owning firearms. I remember years ago seeing a woman shopping with an uzi under her arm. And the retired General and some of his retired military officers were all armed on Oct. 7th, again proving that you could own guns prior to that date. It’s perhaps that many Israelis “did not want” to own weapons.

    https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/israel-has-successful-gun-control-policy-gun-control-p-248-251-1992

    Trying to compare Israel to the U.S. and Canada is ludicrous. The Israelis have been at war with the Palestinians for decades. In the U.S. we have a friendly neighbor Canada to the North of us and a weak, corrupt neighbor Mexico to the South of us.

    In Israel it would have made little if any difference if more of the civilians would have been armed as it was a surprise attack and untrained civilians, many of them old and feeble, would have been no match for the Hamas that trained over 2 years for this assault.

    In the U.S. civilians shooting each other and themselves amounted to 44,000 victims last year. I ams sure Israel has no intention of equaling the death and carnage of the yearly slaughter in the U.S.

    • Like listening to a disturbed two year old babble on.

      Good to have you here. You’re helping to sell millions of guns and helping to defeat your own cause and you haven’t a clue about it.

      Priceless.

      • It’s doing a lot of yappin today. Must be behind on filling his Soros quota for Oct. Reminds one of the monkeys with typewriters theorem. No intelligent output yet though.

      • dacian’s ole lady at her yard sales has some great deals on the gunms dacian gets down at the biker bar from all his really mean and rough looking friends.
        Theres no use going there yourself because we aintbmen enough to go into that bar without having our gunms and knives taken away and then sold at dacian’s ole lady’s yard sales.

    • Yes, you are correct. It is impossible to shoot someone unless you train for 2 years more than they train. They should all just quit, it’s all over, they’ll never catch up on their training now. Crying out loud, I thought I was the biggest tard on this comment section.

      • You were correctly able to apply sarcasm to a joke that mocked a flawed ideological dogma…………yeah you aren’t even in the running for the prequals in the tard olympics.

    • @dacian

      “In the U.S. civilians shooting each other and themselves amounted to 44,000 victims last year. I ams sure Israel has no intention of equaling the death and carnage of the yearly slaughter in the U.S.”

      Wow…so lets take a look at your claim and apply some context: collectively overall in 2022 (last year) ~76% of murders, ~85% of rapes, ~97% of domestic-violence, ~73% or violent robberies, ~97% of assaults, ~72% of child abuses including sexual were committed by people who are left wing or left wing leaning politically or liberals or embrace left wing or liberal ideology either selectively or in part…. and as for suicides in 2022 (last year), in 2022 98% of people who committed suicide or attempted suicide were left wing or left wing leaning politically or liberals or embrace left wing or liberal ideology either selectively or in part …and those who committed suicide or attempted suicide by the firearm method were less than 1% of the, collective overall suicides or attempted suicides.

      In other words dacian, you and those like you are the problem and not guns. Ya’lls BS crap has facilitated and been responsible for so much death and injury, far greater by magnitudes than all the supposed ‘gun violence’ added together for the last 20 years. You and those like you are the ones that need to be banned and removed from society, take your left wing mental illness ideology some place else.

      “In Israel it would have made little if any difference if more of the civilians would have been armed as it was a surprise attack and untrained civilians, many of them old and feeble, would have been no match for the Hamas that trained over 2 years for this assault.”

      and yet still, those ‘civilians’ who did have firearms in the settlement areas, even the old and feeble, were a ‘match’ for hamas and were able to overcome and repel/defeat the hamas attacks.

      It is a proven fact, one you will deny, but still its a proven fact that a defender armed with a firearm is 94% times more likely to survive a violent attack if they employ DGU early (like at the beginning) in the attack. These ‘civilians’ who did have firearms in the settlement areas, even the old and feeble, proved it again too, so much that captured information from hamas prisoners and the dead hamas indicated they were to avoid areas where civilians were armed with firearms.

      • correction for: “is 94% times more likely”

        that should have been …

        “…is 94% more likely…”

        correction for “…proved it again too, so much…” (comma should not have been there)

        should have been…

        “…proved it again too so much…” (no comma)

    • Here is what it would of looked like had there been more armed and trained citizen Israelis,
      Israeli woman Inbar Lieberman, 25, is hailed a hero for saving kibbutz Nir Am from invading Hamas
      https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israeli-woman-inbar-lieberman-25-is-hailed-a-hero-for-saving-kibbutz-nir-am-from-invading-hamas/ar-AA1i0fkj
      This is real world, actually happened, facts.

      I noted you said the terrorists “that trained over 2 years for this assault.”
      That would coincide with when Biden took office. Iran and the rest of the world saw a weak Biden admin as the right time to conduct this attack.
      I agree with your assessment.

  12. gun rights
    is more than just civil rights
    its human rights
    it wouldnt be ok
    to take away someones right
    to clothe themselves
    or feed themselves
    or educate themselves
    so how can it be ok
    to take away their right
    to defend themselves

    • Oh noes, we’re doomed. I read a few comments above this comment that unless you’ve trained as many days as your enemy that guns will do virtually nothing to protect you or to harm your adversary. I guess we should ask them for terms.

    • Terror cells in the U.S.
      LOL
      It’s not a cell it’s a political party.
      China dont need to sneak in, Chinese investors own 3/4 of the United States. No need to sneak.

      • Remember when the Puppet shut down the program to find Chinese spies in the US? Now why would he do that? In completely unrelated news, money has been flowing from China to the Biden family.

  14. No different than an ant, I have a right to self defense and no one but me has authority over that!

    • American Taxpayer’s comments were quite reasonable too. He said that nothing excuses war crimes and that the American taxpayer shouldn’t fund it. People just called him names. Sad!

      • They didn’t “call him names”, they accurately identified him as being an actual fascist, someone to be despised and shunned.

        Get it yet, you supporter of actual fascism?

        • I do support fascism. I’ve lived in Singapore, which is fascism, and it was awesome.

          Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.

          I’ve also lived in absolute monarchies (Dubai and Oman) any they were awesome too.

          Why are you so opposed to fascism?

        • It blows my mind that anyone would believe that fascism could be as good as good old democracy. After all, look at the US, still chugging along nice and strong, and in no way is the US proving the old saw that democracy is doomed once the people discover that they can vote themselves a raise.

        • @stowe

          Democracy gets us Joe Biden, child transgenderism, abortion, BLM riots, random acts of black violence, stolen elections, J6 election integrity demonstrators held with out trial, 37% federal marginal tax rates, and gun control.

          For a bonus your son is addicted to opiates and your daughter is a single mom with a mixed race child.

      • Funny those decrying “Fascism” are defending a state, Israel, where the then prime minister, Golda Meir, who admitted/bragged was founded using “Communist” ideals/policies many of which are still in effect today. She claimed despite evidence to the contrary (founding of the USA for example) that her new nation would not succeed if not for those policies (natural for Jewish Bolsheviks from Russia as many early Israel immigrants were). Neither of the aforementioned political ideologies are good and to prove it we just need look at all the unarmed Israelus massacred recently.

        Now Spain’s Francisco Franco knew how to deal with “The Left” ie. Socialists/Communists/Anarchists, do I want that here in the USA, “No”, but I sure would be happy to find those undermining our efforts, indoctrinating our childten, and oppressing us with their dictatorial decrees gone along with their supporters as they are a 5th Column bent on our destruction.

      • He is pushes a Jewish-supremacy narrative that advocates and celebrates the ethnic cleansing of Muslim and Christian Palestinians.

        We need the 2A so we don’t turn into Palestinians.

    • Why is ‘American Taxpayer’ still trying to post under other names like ‘StepTwo’ and “Gucci 2011 with Delta Point Pro feelz” and “Miner49er” and ‘dacian’ and other names?

  18. Mooses are I’ll tempered creatures, and bears ain’t very happy about being told they cant shit in the woods.
    Canadians need all the gunms they can get.

  19. Unfortunately, the jews most of them have learned nothing from the holocaust. Only a handful, very few of them actually believe in the Second Amendment.

    Because most jews are s0ci@list pr0gressive in their p0litical orient@tion or they are flat out communists.

    • Trotsky was a Jew. And so popular with the purest and most strident communists he had to be murdered because he was more rabid than all of them.

  21. Canadian government orders their citizens to turn in their firearms then invites and allows Chinese Army units to “winter train” in the western provinces. I think I see a rat here.

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