Israelis raid a hospital in the West Bank.

Last year, I wrote an article exploring some practical lessons from the initial attack on Israel from the Gaza strip. The biggest thing was that, as usual, a country had slid into anti-gun complacency. Everyone thought that it was somebody else’s job to protect people, so targets of all kinds were left vulnerable.

But, this time, the tables have turned. An Israeli operation at a hospital in the West Bank managed to drive the point home yet again. Instead of Hamas proving that gun control is worthless, Israel waltzed right into a hospital and proved it again.

I don’t bring this raid up because I want to comment on whether it was wrong or right to do this. Some people are saying they violated international law. Others are saying this was just a police action within their own borders to take out a threat that was using the hospital as a human shield. Everyone is entitled to either of those opinions or any other.

Instead, I want to take a look at the security situation in that hospital and compare it to most any hospital in the United States. Are there metal detectors at the doors? No. Are there armed guards who would stop people from simply walking right in with a rifle? Nope. Are there police there? Also, a big no in most places. The only thing stopping people from simply walking right in and doing whatever they want with a rifle is them choosing not to.

Sure, in many places, hospitals are off-limits to guns by some legal means or other. In this case, there may be some international agreement or something prohibiting soldiers from going in. In the case of U.S. hospitals, it’s often a sign that any private property owner can post prohibiting guns. In some jurisdictions, there’s a law on the books specifically banning guns from all hospitals.

But, do those signs have some magical quality that zaps guns into oblivion as the person carrying them crosses the threshold? Definitely not. The only thing that can stop people from hiding a rifle under a coat or in a violin case is someone who both physically checks everyone for guns and has the means to stop people should they reveal a gun and use it. Clearly this hospital (like almost all others) doesn’t have either of those things.

At the end of the day, a mixture of people’s goodness and people prepared to deal with those devoid of goodness is what keeps people safe. There are very few people who would enter a hospital with a gun and the intent to harm people. The rest of us either don’t carry a gun in or don’t do anything evil with it. For the rare person who isn’t good, there needs to be a good person (or multiple good people) ready to step in and stop bad things from happening.

In this particular hospital, the opposite was true. Instead of having good guys with guns, they were hiding bad people with guns. The Israelis, like this or not, went in there and took care of the problem before these guys could hurt any more innocent people.

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58 COMMENTS

  1. ู…ู†ุทู‚ุฉ ุฎุงู„ูŠุฉ ู…ู† ุงู„ุฃุณู„ุญุฉ
    Doesn’t matter what language you post it in

  2. The same could be said about shopping malls, theaters, government buildings, schools, colleges and universities, national parks, gas stations, roadside rest areas, airports, etc., etc., etc., etc.

    There is one lesson here. Always carry. Even a lowly .380 could cause enough distraction for an attacker with a more powerful firearm to fail or be taken out.

    • When they aren’t expecting resistance, anything is worlds better than nothing, even if you don’t hit the target. Several mass shooters in America killed themselves shortly after the first shot was fired back at them.

      But still. Practice! Make sure you can put your shots on target so you don’t accidentally fire a stray towards a school bus full of lawyers’ children.

  3. The only places I don’t carry “something” lethal are the post office,po-leece station or court. When I entered the Will county,ILL courthouse they had metal detectors & cops giving the evil eye. And gats. BTW the so-called West Bank is Israel. Like Illinois conquered from Indian’s๐Ÿ™„

    • > ILL courthouse they had metal detectors & cops giving the evil eye.

      “Here,” the local country complex, the ONLY restricted building is the one with the courts and Sherriff’s office.

      There is security, and a metal detector. However, there are little “safety deposit boxes” outside the building. Tell the cop you’re carrying, he will escort you the secure storage, no clearing / checking, put your stuff in, they give you one of the two keys. Done. Disarmed, but at least polite. Yes, I hate it.

      More than once, the cop has said, “Oooo, nice. Is that a (device X)?”

  4. I don’t get the point. Speed limit signs totally prevent speeding so…

    Totally want to get one of those fake wheelchair outfits.

  5. “Some people are saying they violated international law. Others are saying this was just a police action within their own borders to take out a threat that was using the hospital as a human shield. Everyone is entitled to either of those opinions or any other.”

    and those ‘some’ saying they violated international law would be 100% wrong. Its a situational dependent thing that is permitted under international law because the enemy made the hospital a target because they were using it for war-making capability which is prohibited under international law thus removed its ‘international law’ protection by doing so and instead made it a viable military target.

    • The hospitals in my neck of the woods have their own in house police force or security. What you need besides a firearm at a hospital is a camera, recorder, names, time, date and a malpractice attorney on speed-dial.

  6. Seriously this has zero to do with gun control. This was a military operation and even if there had been armed guards there they would have been taken out by the Israeli commandos who by the way had silencers on their weapons. They knew exactly what rooms these guys were in and it took them only seconds to blast one guy who was sleeping in a bed.

    • Dacian, just curious have you ever shot a suppressed weapon in real life? Curious what you’re trying to imply…

      • He will tell you of his vast experience in owning and using firearms. Even though he’s the biggest preacher of gun control here. He will tell you stories going all the way back to the 50’s even though he was doxxed here and he’s a basement dweller from canton ohio that is younger than most of us. The way he writes most comments he is either mentally ill or stuck at a 13yo level of development.

        He lies when it is obvious and the truth would do him better.

        • He’s had enough education to read his “holy books”: Das Kapital, Mein Kampf, and The Turner Diaries.

          While the first is about the oppressed overcoming their oppressors, what happens when the “dictatorship of the proletariat” becomes oppressive?

      • to Justin

        Yes I have shot silencers many times and my buddy has a full auto M16 with a .22 rimfire conversion kit and when it fires the only thing you hear is the bolt moving back and forth. Now if that is not quiet I do not know what would be.

    • Gun control has no future. Did drug prohibition rid us of illegal drugs? Did alcohol prohibition rid us of booze?

      Banning guns would simply open another black market and make crooks more money.

      • The drug leg@liz@tion crowd made drugs legal in many states. And the crime did not go away. Also the black market got even larger.

        And still they avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

        • @XZX – Oregon decriminalized everything, the black market for opiates didn’t shrink, crime went up (they’re actually torching local “law & order” politician’s cars now), and are trying to legislatively undo what they did because they know they done goofed.

          What Chris T in KY said was factually accurate.

        • “Drugs” haven’t been legalized in any state. One drug has been decriminalized at the local and state levels. Your point fails because you’ve stated a falsehood.

        • @Paul

          Decrim is not merely not legalization, it is the worst scenario – production, transport and distribution still in the hands of criminals, retail use maximized. It is what they do in Mexico. Nuff said!

          I advocate nationalizing that market.

          “You want less of something, let the government do it.” – anon.

    • Military operation or no, I think Jennifer’s point here is the complacency on the part of Hamas which resulted in a total absence of resistance to the Israeli operation. I agree the commandos would have likely been victorious either way, but the fact remains that the hospital there was a soft target, and many here in the US are as well. Ideally there should be several layers of security at sensitive places like hospitals and schools that could deter such attacks. As for suppressors, if you have a buddy who owns some you should know that supersonic rifle rounds are actually quite loud, especially indoors. Comparing those to a suppressed 22 LR is like comparing a Tesla to a Harley-Davidson in terms of noise.

  7. All the many times I had to take my wife to the hospital, may God rest her soul, I pocket carried my gun. Yes I was breaking the rules and breaking the law.

    And your point is???

    At one time people broke the laws against sodmy. And they did so proudly. So in their mind it’s very wrong to break the law regarding self-defense reasons.

    But it’s ok to to break the law regarding sodmy.

    Like I’ve said before. It’s all about the leg@l butt sex and drugs. That’s all this that crowd cares about.

    • “Like Iโ€™ve said before. Itโ€™s all about the leg@l butt sex and drugs ”

      …and using abortion as birth control and ‘I feelz’ and ‘give me what I want because I say so’ and ‘i’m the other gender or no gender at all’ and controlling others and taking away your constitutional rights. … “Thatโ€™s all this that crowd cares about.”

      there FIFY.

      ๐Ÿ˜

      • Thank you. I was going to include them latter. But you beat me to it. That crowd has lead the way in supporting gun control.

        But they do certainly enjoy having a good time. ๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ†

    • Those who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law.
      Those who killed her were following the law.

      Why is it the leftists always scream that people need to follow the law when it applies to the other side, but never when it applies to their fellow commies?

  8. Just as a reminder. The Palestinians have used red cross ambulances to move weapons and conduct attacks. It’s seems good people don’t expect an ambulance to be used for evil purposes.

  10. Does the writer contend that civilians should stand as armed guards outside and inside every public place? Blaming the failure of “gun control” on people’s desire to have an open, accessible society is disingenuous.

    • No. I do not believe that is what was meant. But we should all have the option to go about our daily lives armed. Simply having decent citizens armed throughout our daily lives would deter or end a lot of criminal activity.

      • We do in MS and 26 other States, albeit with some minor inconveniences regarding certain properties such as military installations.

      • Perhaps she meant that the Gazans would be better off if they didn’t have strict gun control in the West Bank? It’s a very strange way to promote Second Amendment rights in a country that doesn’t have our Constitution.

  12. Should you carry or not? Are there metal detectors present? It’s annoying to walk back to the vehicle.

  13. I have a friend who keeps a folding AK with spare mags on the front seat of his car. In a tennis racket bag. Even keeps a tube of tennis balls on the seat too. No one gives it a second glance. Urban camouflage. I’ve been retired ten years and I forget the number of times I’ve carried a firearm in a hospital. Damn their signs.

  14. War crime?
    Has ANY UN flunkie used those words in any manner relating to what the Hamas terrorists did?
    Of course not.

  15. But there were armed people already at this hospital -they just thought they were safe hiding behind their human shields and the so-called international law from the consequences of their crimes against humanity.

    Deuteronomy 20 all the way. God’s commandment to his chosen people on how they shall protect their promised land has never been recinded.

  16. Author has never been to a big city trauma hospital, where there are guards and metal detectors to keep gang bangers from finishing off their targets.

  17. It seems i recall in Mike Durants book (Black Hawk Down/hostage) that when his captors were taking him to be released, they all pulled out and donned U.N. gear. Playing both sides of the fence

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