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Why Are American Jews So Anti-Gun?
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More in Forward ForumWith the Supreme Court opening this week the first extensive examination of the constitutional right to bear arms in nearly 70 years, now seems a pretty good time to ask a question that’s been perplexing me for nearly as long: Why is that American Jews are so overwhelmingly anti-gun?
I’ve been stumped by this communal aversion to firearms ever since I was a 6 year old, back in 1947. While flipping through old Life magazines one day in my grandparents’ living room in the Bronx, I came across photographs taken at the liberation of concentration camps. I saw the pictures of bodies stacked like cordwood, and was stunned.
“Mommy, why are all those people dead?” I asked.
My mother, a brilliant and subtle woman, thought for a moment and said, “The bad Germans called Nazis killed them.” To which, of course, I asked, “Why did the Nazis kill them?”
“They killed them because they were Jews,” she replied.
Although I was only 6 and not yet sure of my identity or its meaning, I asked, “We’re Jews, aren’t we?”
“Yes,” answered my mother.
“Mommy,” I asked, without missing a beat, “do you and Daddy have a gun so we can protect ourselves if the Nazis come for us?”
“This is America,” my mother reassured me. “That can’t happen here.”
All across America little Jewish boys and girls got the same answer, and pretty much all of them accepted it. That answer, though, didn’t satisfy me — and to this day I wonder how it is that Jews in America, despite no small amount of antisemitism, have so strongly devoted themselves to the belief that “it” couldn’t happen here.
During the 1960s I encountered Holocaust survivors who told me that just as American Jews felt secure from genocide, German Jews had felt similarly secure before the Nazis’ rise to power. The average Jew in Berlin during the mid-1920s would have thought you were crazy if you had said it was possible that within 20 years most European Jews would be systematically exterminated by the German government,
So that there is no misunderstanding, let me be completely clear: I have never felt, and do not now, that there is some imminent likelihood of genocide against Jews — or, for that matter, any other group — in America. I just never saw the wisdom of assuming that 50 years from now, or even 20, this couldn’t change.
I also never saw the wisdom in going out of my way to avoid protecting myself. Most of my fellow American Jews, though, have been doing just that — and what’s more, fighting to prevent others from arming themselves. As best as I can tell, this American Jewish aversion to firearms has its origins back in the Eastern Europe of yesteryear, where a centuries-long history of difficult experiences gave rise to what is best described as the “shtetl mentality.”
A great many American Jews had great-grandparents who originally came from shtetls or ghettos in Europe. One of the major hazards of living in another people’s country was that occasionally a few Cossacks would get drunk, ride over to the nearest shtetl, rape a few women, maybe murder a man who protested rather than begging for his life, and then ride off into the sunset.
It had to be inescapably clear to these Jews that dozens of able-bodied and sober men would surely have been a match for eight or 10 drunk Cossacks. It would have been easy, even for Jews not trained in arms, to kill the Cossacks and bury them someplace.
It is obvious, though, why they did not: Had they had done so, swarms of Cossacks would have massacred every Jew in every shtetl within 100 versts. Defense was just not an option.
The women raped and the men murdered were seen as the price Jews paid for surviving as a people. Since no Jew likely considered the possibility that without some major provocation the Cossacks would someday try to kill them all, it seemed like a reasonable, if awful, compromise.
Such a compromise must have taken a devastating and horrific psychological toll on the people forced to make it. In order to maintain self-respect, people in such a condition had to explain it as the result of something that made them better than their oppressors. This was the notion that they voluntarily — rather than of necessity, as was actually the case — eschewed the use of weapons because they understood that violence was evil, while their tormentors did not. It was the key to survival, and to self-respect.
Today’s American Jews, despite being far removed from the shtetl, still carry this shtetl mentality with them, despite the fact that it has long since lost its utility. American Jews are overwhelmingly in favor of gun bans, and are disproportionately represented in the leadership positions of the movement to ban private ownership of firearms.
This shtetl mentality is tellingly absent among Israelis, and another look back at history helps explain why.
Many American Jews are the direct descendants of immigrants who left the ghettos and shtetls with the shtetl mentality intact and came to the United States between 1885 and 1925. They raised their children, who in turn raised their children, to believe that all weapons were wrong because all violence was wrong — even though the conditions in America were different, the horrible compromise of Europe was behind them, and their survival and self-respect no longer depended on a willingness to defenselessly sit by while members of the community were raped and murdered.
The Jews who remained in Europe, on the other hand, were confronted by the Holocaust. The ones who survived saw that the rules had changed, and many of them immigrated to Israel. They saw that not all violence was wrong, that violence could be used to preserve the Jewish people, and that the defensive use of weapons was necessary for the survival of the community. The result has been a greater acceptance of individual use of weapons for personal defense.
Israelis, in short, have learned a lesson that far too few American Jews have yet to grasp: For Jews, the phrase “assault rifle” is a misnomer — the correct term, once the shtetl mentality has been transcended, is “Jewish defense rifle.”
Eric King is a writer living in Berkeley, Calif.
Comments
you might be surprised who is armed these days for the reasons you list
Maybe it's because most Jews embrace the Talmudic reasoning that it is better to die than to kill someone, even in self-defense. Golda Meier said it best - that she could forgive the Arabs/Palestinians for killing the Israeli children, but she could never forgive them for forcing Israelis to kill Arab children.
Golda Meier's statement aside, Israeli's are armed so they will not be sacrificed lambs. You would be surprised at how many North American Jews have learned that lesson. Jews in the Rocky Mountain States are very active in shooting sports and by inference have arms.
It may be worth noting that on November 8, 1938, the chief of the Berlin police department announced that all Jews had been disarmed.
November 10 was Kristaalnacht, which took place without any bothersome gunfire from the Jews.
November 11, 1938, the German parliament passed a law disarming Jews in the new territories of Sudeten and in Austria.
November 8, 1938: The chief of Berlin's police department announced that all Jews had been disarmed, with thousands of weapons seized.
November 10: Kristaalnacht. No problems with gunfire from the Jews.
I agree that it might be surprising as to who is armed these days, and I also believe in the Constitution that gives us all the right to "keep and bear arms". I think that we should remember that "never again", means NEVER AGAIN. The comment about an "assault rifle" being really a "Jewish defense rifle" is spot on.
We're not all anti-gun! As a Jew and an American, I believe in the right to self-defense, and that includes my right to be armed. The Constitution guarantees that right, and, what's more, the Torah speaks of the Jews-- freed from Egypt and no longer slaves-- leaving Egypt "armed." The right to bear arms has always been a sign of freedom. Jews have known that for thousands of years, and we shouldn't forget it now.
Sing it, brother.
Re shtetl mentality: My greatgrandfather was a Cantonist who completed his term of service and was therefore allowed to keep his pistol and sword. When the local priest led a mob into the Jews' street (on Good Friday?) he stood on his doorstep holding the pistol and sword. The mob turned around and left. My father, born in Chicago 1900, told me that HIS father kept a revolver in the top of the closet. When my mom, astounded, asked why, he just said "It was a tough neighborhood..." My point--I think that the anti-gun sentiment of American Jews dates from the shift of political sentiment from the Republicans to the Rooseveldt Dems, and with the increasing dominance of college-educated intellectuals as opinion-formers in the Jewish community. Shtetlach would have welcomed the right to arm themselves--see the last part of Esther.
Very inciteful! Extremely practical.
Shedding blood without just cause is horrific. Defending one's family from evil murderers is not.
Reasonable defense is greatly different from initiating bloodshed. Means for defense (weapons) is a practical reality.
Imagine Joshua refusing to posess a sword!
Ari Yosef
For years I have maintained that "'Never Again' will not be guaranteed by prayers, protests of pacifism."
That's why I support our Second Amendment rights, train and certify firearm instructors, and teach permit to carry classes.
Some American Jews get it.
"Shtetl Mentality" is an easy excuse for everything that represents a lack of self respect among Jews.Jewish self defense was a reality throughout history. Pick up the German book "Die Judenpogrommen inRussland" and you while find that di shtarke- the tough guys among the Jews: the butchers, the blacksmiths, the packmen and their assistants, as well as members of the Jewish underworld and later, the members of the various organizations-Zionists, Bundists, Communists, socialists, etc.,fought back in the pogram period of the 1880's to the first decades of the 20th century. Like wise, in all periods, including today, there are middle class groups for whom fighting is frowned upon. This includes non-Jews s well. The JDL was slammed by the Jewish establishment for daring to directly protect Jews in increasingly unsafe neighborhoods. The JDL was looked down on by the Federations and their agencies. Don't blame the "ghetto mentality." As to why liberal Jews in America are so anti-guns, I would say it is more a "class issue" than a "Jewish issue."
Jews are idiotically liberal.
I am one of the few Jews I know who owns guns. Most of the men I know who would like to own one, and this is a small number, say that their wives would never allow it. I grew up shooting at a Jewish summer camp in Maine and have loved target shooting since then. I have since learned that my camp and most others have since discontinued offering riflery. I take friends and family shooting a couple times a year, and everyone has a good time but I am still considered an odd ball for thinking guns are OK to own and great for self defense.
I intend no offense, but I must say, unequivocally, that Mr. King has missed the point entirely. Jewish antipathy toward firearms has nothing to do with the shtetl, and everything to do with liberalism.
The essence of liberal philosophy is that the liberal feels that he is smarter, more sophisticated, more knowledgeable, better informed, and generally wiser than the great majority of his fellow citizens. From this he infers the right to tell others what to do. He considers himself to be like a parent, with us as the children, who are loved, but since immature must be controlled. And just as one would not give a firearm to a 7-year-old, the liberal wants guns taken away from us untrustworthy commoners.
Almost all Jews (at least in the metro NY area) are liberals, for which reason they mindlessly support confiscation. Bad decision.
I think that the transcendence to which the author exhorts us would best be achieved by setting an example for others to follow. If this means mastery of weapons technology, then so be it. However, he ill serves his argument by presuming to lecture those who might differ with him on this matter about why misfortunes periodically befall any of us.
Mr. King:
It is quite simple: we are stupid. Well, that is, most of us are guilty of this psychological malady. I am Jewish. My weapons are for defense only. And, no, I am not a member of the JDL. But, when the storm troopers come for us here, at least, I will die with my dignity. To hell with the liberals. And, to hell with those who think Amerika is gonna protect us. They are stupid. Amerika is too addicted to it's things and we are slowly becoming the scapegoat. Is it ever any different?
Good Grief.
Perhaps the reason remains that most American Jews are far more intelligent and insightful than the paranoid Eric King. There is no reason at all for Jews to pack heat in the USA. There has never been a pogrom here, and of all the abuse heaped upon American minorities Jews have received the very least of it. If there exists a promised land for Jews it is the United States where they exist as the most successful minority group in the history of the country - and among the safest. This is not Germany, nor is it 1938, and it is only astonishing ignorance and bigotry for King to even suggest that it might become so. If anyone is suffering from a "shtetl mentality" it is King with his rabid xenophobia. Just who, may I ask King, are the Cossacks among the surrounding gentiles in that oh so dangerous neighborhood of Berkeley, California? Does he really believe the Bay Area to be analogous to Eastern Europe of 1905? I suggest he has been partaking far too much of his medicinal marijuana.
There is a great website,"Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership." They are definitely pro gun and self defense. They filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court on the Heller 2nd ammendment case. Their website is www.jfpo.org/ (you seem to not be "mainstream" San Franciscan -- refreshing to find a pro 2nd ammendment guy in Berkely!)
It is interesting that the New Life Church in Colorado Springs found it in its interest to post armed members as a security force, and that one of those armed members saved many lives by stopping a crazed gunman. We Jews, far more than evangelical Christians, have jihadi enemies. And yet, in California there are shul-going Jews who, offered the stark choice of discreetly armed protection or being killed, will choose the latter. (Ms. Schwartz may prefer this alternative, but has no right to send others to a preventable death.)
As it happens, we have good statistical evidence from both Department of Justice and private surveys that privately owned firearms prevent around 2.5 million crimes each year, thus saving up to 300,000 lives per year. The reasons you haven't heard of this are: a) In the great majority of cases, the gun is merely displayed and never fired, and the incident is not reported to the police or picked up by the press; b) Even when an incident is prevented by an armed citizen, reporters (apparently thinking it bad public policy) suppress the fact that the rescuer was armed.
The latest example is of the massacre at Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem. Most press reports stated that the killer was shot with a rifle by an off-duty soldier. They do not mention that Yitzchak Dadon, a student with a concealed weapons permit first shot him with his pistol.
This article is waaaayyyy to generalized. Being a Jew who had 95% of his mothers family wiped out from the Holocaust, we were always brought up to stand up for ourselves, even if that might mean using a firearm for self defense. The author is 100% correct in that American born Jews as a majority are raised to think that the use of firearms are wrong, especially those of East Coast descent, as the East Coast has had stricter Gun control laws than states west of the Appalachians have had, until recently. Take for instance the Sullivan Law of New York, many Jews think that it is illegal to own a firearm, just because of the Sullivan law, and are surprised that other states do not have the same restrictions as New York does. Of course once they move out to the West Coast, they try to make themselves at home and start pushing for their East Coast brand of Gun control. Look at California in the '80's, when they tried to pass prop. 15 calling for a ban on handguns. The proposition was defeated EASILY, yet just 10-15 years later and we have every Democratic legislator trying to pass just about every banning scheme they can cook up. Jews need to wake up and visit Israel and stay there for a while. Live how Israelis do, and I am fairly certain that once they see what anti-Semites really do to Jews, they will have a more balanced view of the need for self defense. Listen, I am a former Army Military Police Officer who was in executive protection for a while, and know what realities are, and some of them are that Jews need to start to think differently. Just look at Europe right now, and you'll get the picture of how the U.S. COULD be in the next 10-15 years from now. Watch the Movie "Kike Like Me" and you'll get an even scarier view of what Europe has become for the Jew.
I wonder about this transcended shtetl mentality? You propose self-armament because a genocide can happen here. My concern however is how one draws the connection between gun ownship and protection from a systematic majority supported genocide in the first place.
I remember as a small boy listening to Golda Meir and her pioneering spirit was contagious as was her desire to have us understand how much Israel needed our support. Being surrounded by hostile neighbors promising annihilation was a very real issue. I can't imagine her arguing that American Jews needed to arm themselves for the same reasons. Go into gun stores today and you will find that there are stores for avid hunters and others called "tactical" gun stores where folks of every racial, cultural and religious persuasion can arm up for a future threat. I do hope that the clientele that supports this type of business is on the fringe of our society. If not, a Jew owning a gun would have to embark next on creating a militia...
Thank you Eric. Very insightful and your words ring true.
As a German-American, whose ancestors came to the USA before WWII, I must say that I agree whole-heartedly with your take. I am from the Chicago area...where yes, many Jews are anti-gun and anti-defense. That said, I have several Jewish friends with whom I shoot regularly. Many of them agree with your sentiments, and I have passed this article along to them.
Best wishes and keep up the reasonable discourse.
Bravo for asking such an important question. I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment right to bear arms--with or without a militia--because an armed populace will force any attacker to understand the consequences of an attack.
Like the author of the article, I too grew up in a home in which guns were reflexively considered evil, and I remember the NRA mantra that "guns don't kill people; people kill people" was met with scorn and derision. Only later in life did I realize it was TRUE!
I live in city (Chicago) where the mere ownership of a gun is illegal, yet where an unspeakable number of people are killed each year with guns. It's time we stop complaining about the presence of guns, and start complaining about our society's propensity to use them on on another.
Only then will we solve the divide over gun ownership.
I think that the problem goes deeper than the shtetl mentality. I really believe that Jews, as a group, have a suicidal-self genocidal tendancy. How else to explain things like the Jewish community in Minneapolis voting overwelmingly for Keith Ellison? Or the Jews who want to negotiate with Hamas? How does a group that wants to exterminate you compromise? Do they say OK, we won't kill you today but will tomorrow? Until we, as Jews, recognize that we have this problem, we will always face extermination that comes from internal actions rather than external.
Pro-gun Jews should absolutely be a member of JPFO then. I'm not Jewish, yet I wholeheartedly support JPFO. They understand that gun control isn't about 'duck hunting'
I think that many American Jews are disciples of the traitorous Frankfurt School of Cultural Marxism. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_School) Most of the founders of the school were Jewish Communists who fled to America when Hitler was purging Germany of other political groups. The emergence of Israel in 1948 and the on-going armed struggle to survive, flies in the face of the Cultural Marxists and their fairy-tale belief system. The current generation of Cultural Marxist Jews continue to hang on to the belief that the Demoncrat party and its masters provide them with protection, therefore they must adhere to the party line.
I think that many American Jews are disciples of the traitorous Frankfurt School of Cultural Marxism. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_School) Most of the founders of the school were Jewish Communists who fled to America when Hitler was purging Germany of other political groups. The emergence of Israel in 1948 and the on-going armed struggle to survive, flies in the face of the Cultural Marxists and their fairy-tale belief system. The current generation of Cultural Marxist Jews continue to hang on to the belief that the Demoncrat party and its masters provide them with protection, therefore they must adhere to the party line.
I would buy a gun but my Jewish wife will beat me up if I brought one.
Amen.
Perhaps it is not my place as I am not Jewish, but as we are talking about Jews in America and I am American I'll have a go.
I do believe many Jews in America carry the odd European concept that government will protect them, the King knows best. Why they would have that I do not know but we have seen it in other populations. I would have thought history taught us otherwise. And thankfully some Jews do know their self-defense is their right and responsibility; JEWS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FIREARMS OWNERSHIP http://www.jpfo.org/
Just as Americans I would think Jews would want to protect themselves. A common truism among the gun rights lobby is "when seconds count the police are only minutes away". But there is a bigger reason for Jews to get over their fear of guns. The new anti-Semites are stirring. I do see it. Not from these wacko groups with the funny flags and such. They could be whipped by easily.
There is an ugly consortium of Leftist admiration for islamic terrorist who blame Israel and thus all Jews for something, whatever. They will be allied with the "the Jews are responsible for the oil crisis". Yes that is a lie. That never stopped anyone before. They are coming for you. Holocaust Denial is a growth industry in the crowd pushing for a repeat. Add to that we are still letting muslims into this country. So the vast majority may not be bad guys; so what? It does not take many.
Think we Christians can come to your aid? I hope we do, unless we are involved in a civil war of our own. Ok, I am just a WASP. But I do not plan to go quietly should someone come for me.
So my fellow Americans please arm yourselves. It is your right and resonsibility. Yes, it can happen here.
"josh shoenfeld said: I am one of the few Jews I know who owns guns. Most of the men I know who would like to own one, and this is a small number, say that their wives would never allow it."
You sir get it. It's not even about being Jewish. It's about being a HUMAN. Humans from any and all races can and have engaged in violence, thievery, rape, pillaging. As a human it is necessary to be prepared to defend oneself from aggressors. The men you know who's wives won't let them own guns need to drive home these FACTS about human nature. If those men and women value their lives and those of their children they will arm themselves.
"Grif said: Perhaps the reason remains that most American Jews are far more intelligent and insightful than the paranoid Eric King."
No offense but this comment reeks of arrogance and naivety. Just because there has never been a pogrom in the US does not mean there could never be. There isn't one human being that can legitimately claim clairvoyance. It is, I believe, more likely that Jews (AKA fellow humans) would encounter random violence than a pogrom but in either case an armed human is a human who has a better chance of surviving a violent assault.
Hmmm: "This is not Germany, nor is it 1938, and it is only astonishing ignorance and bigotry for King to even suggest that it might become so."
Isn't that what the Jews of pre WWII Europe thought? "This could never happen here".....OMG, it did!
How ludicrous to think that just because something never happened in a given place or time, that it could never happen. I agree, that to this point, there has been no such threat to the Jews in the US, but historically speaking, Jews have frequently been the target of choice. This is not to say that other groups have not bee targeted as well.
The Jews of this generation have the benefit of history to illustrate to us that the inconceivable can happen. Don't know who said it, but: "those that forget history are condemned to repeat it". No, thank you.
I have often pondered this very question. It seems to fly in the face of common sense for Jews to oppose firearms. I can understand why politicians oppose them.
I must agree with RginArizona. There is still evil in this world and it is coming for all of us, including Jews. Hopefully we can all stand against it together.
Someone above made light of 'tactical gun stores'. These are the types of people determined to ridicule us into abjectly throwing up our hads in surrender when in fact those hands should be armed.
It's about time someone asked this question. The very question that has puzzled me for decades.
I'm not Jewish of course but I did read the article. I am however a pro-gun Second Amendment activist, and likewise active in both the Constitution Party (www.constitutionpartyoregon.net) and The John Birch Society (www.jbs.org). I likewise laud, support, and endorse JPFO, Inc. (www.jpfo.org). My late father served in the U.S. Army during World War II (1939-1945) though wasn't in the European Theater where the Holocaust raged. Nonetheless, "Freedom Is Not Free!" Several letters I have written to local newspapers allude to this. They include: "Americans remain complacent" :Sunday, April 15, 2007 via www.mailtribune.com; click on Archives. Also, "Crimes of I.G. Farben" at same web-site for Friday, December 1st, 2006 and "Our freedoms are not free"(Ashland Daily Tidings: Friday, August 17, 2007) via www.dailytidings.com; click on Archives. Thus I take very serious and personal firearms ownership, civic activism, and the preservation of both the Second Amendment and our republic.
My parents were Holocaust survivors, my father never owned a gun, my mother was afraid of them….
When I asked why, I was told “I’ve seen what they do”
My answer to that is to own a gun, or rather own many of them, my children learned to handle firearms and shoot as young teens. I shoot weekly, if not more.
My thoughts when reflecting on the horrors of the Holocaust are those of sadness and resolve. I will not be a passive victim, nor will my children…
Whitey accuses me of "arrogance and naivety" and posits the truism that "Just because there has never been a pogrom in the US does not mean there could never be." Yes, that's possible and it is also possible that all the air in this room might suddenly disappear - possible but damned unlikely. He then states "There isn't one human being that can legitimately claim clairvoyance" while claiming it for himself by looking forward to such a pogrom or "individual violence" as he puts it, by having all Jews arm themselves. The fact remains that anti-semitic violence in the United States is not, and never has been, a threat. The discrimination practiced against Jews in the US has been the mildest in history. Can't join the Country Club? Not accepted at that white shoe Wall Street Firm? Not in at Harvard? Oh dear me. The fondest dreams of the rest of America's minorities were that some day, just some day, they might be allowed to take out the garbage, mow the lawns, mop the floors at those same institutions. Anything else would have been considered a pipe dream.
DRK reflects similar historical ignorance. While admitting "that to this point, there has been no such threat to the Jews in the US," DRK goes on to posit, "historically speaking, Jews have frequently been the target of choice." Yet, in the United States Jews have NEVER been the target of choice - EVER. If indeed American ethnic groups were to arm themselves according to the amount of violence perpetrated against their respective groups African-Americans would have a standing army the size of our own, followed by Mexican-Americans, Chinese-Americans, the Irish and Italians. Jews would trail the list by a factor of twenty, as there have been four Jews in our entire history who have been lynched by a mob, yet some 85 Italians, far, far more Irish Chinese and Mexicans, and some 60,000 to 100,000 blacks. Yet on this forum all are screaming "The Cossacks are coming!" and are somehow deluded enough to believe that Nazi Germany is a common everyday occurrence so they gotta pack some heat. What romantic delusions of grandeur - as the SS break down the door you all go down blazing away with your .45? The fact remains that in the face of state-sanctioned violence (i.e., the police and military) even a well-armed citizenry is no more bothersome than a flea. It also remains that a gun owner is far more likely to accidentally - or not so accidentally - shoot himself or a family member than shoot, or scare away, an armed intruder. Then, of course, there is the actual deed itself. Any of you tough guys ever pointed a gun at another and pulled the trigger? Ready and able to watch someone die on your kitchen floor in a pool of blood? And what if he were unarmed? Wandered drunk into the wrong house? An old pal pulling a dumb prank? A woman friend of mine once nearly killed her sister. She'd given her a key to the house and said whenever you need a place to crash, then forgot all about it. She put a bullet in the wall two feet above her sister's head one late night she came creeping up the stairs (trying not to disturb her sis) to the spare bedroom.
The only antidote to any threat of violence against any minority group of any kind is that promoted by ML King - ensuring that the "promissory note" enshrined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights is fulfilled. Talk of pistol packing is childish nonsense, and any comparisons of the United States to Nazi Germany and/or Czarist Russia is astonishingly ignorant.
The 'it can't happen here' mentality is bad enough. The part that is intolerable is the notion that everyone else, Jew or not, should be disarmed. My wife (Jew) and I (Catholic) moved from NYC to South Florida, only to find that the crime rate is worse here than in Queens. Her opposition to firearms is such that I simply didn't tell her that I went and bought a gun after realizing the average response time from the local police departments. I won't be a disarmed victim. I might end up being a dead victim, but I won't die alone.
The preponderance of American Jews live and have lived in or near big cities -- where most people, Jewish or not, grow up knowing nothing about guns. When I moved to South Dakota for a short time in the 80s, I found out that almost everyone had a gun, and had one since he/she was a kid. It was as natural as learning to ride a bike -- parents taught kids how to shoot and how to respect their firearms. I'd like to hear from some of our rural Landsmen. I'll bet they own guns, just like their neighbors. I'm not against guns, I just don't know anything about them.
I'm Jewish and I don't own a gun. But I'm glad I know how to use one, and I'm happy that many Americans have guns at home. Guns they can use to resist unjust authority if that should ever be called for.
Someday this country might turn on some of it's citizens. Maybe not us - maybe Muslims, or leftists, or libertarians. I hope an armed populace will give pause to FBI and ATF hotheads. I hope there are men and women in this country still willing to die on their feet than live on their knees.
And yes, I'm a nice liberal Jew who doesn't own a gun.
Could Phebe Schwartz please give a source for her Talmudic quote that it is better to die than to kill someone even in self defence. I believe there is no such statement appearing anywhere in the Talmud but there is the well known Talmudic principle "If one comes to kill you, arise and kill him first," which principle not only permits self-defence but mandates it!
It's OK for Jews to embrace SHTELI mentality. If they are willing to grovel before their assassin so be it. However, its not OK for Jews to impose SHTELI on non Jews through the American political process.
You might want to check out:
JEWS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FIREARMS OWNERSHIP
America's Most Aggressive Defender of Firearms Ownership http://www.jpfo.org/
As a Jewess in the US, may I remind everyone that criminals on EITHER side of the law are stopped by the presence of FIREARMS, not by talk? And that America wasn't won with a registered gun? That is why all REAL Americans put our 2nd Amendment FIRST!
What has the right of possessing a gun to do with the holocaust, nothing of course. Would have European Jewry be able to defend itself against a state determined to destroy them, of course not.
Would the American Jews be able to defend themselves in a similar situation, of course not. Is there still a subject that (American) jews can discuss without connecting it to the Holocaust?
First of all I'm glad we have a fellow Constitutionalist here (James Farmer). Eric King has written an outstanding piece here. At a time when yeshiva students are being slaughtered in their study halls we can't afford the luxury of disarming law abiding citizens. In my dati neighbourhood of Chicago, we are talking about setting up a community patrol and frankly I think other members of the Jewish community are waking up to the reality that the ADL or the local JCRC's may not be as effective in defending Jewish rights as a few kippah clad citizens with firearms.
Eric King has written an excellent article and the comments, taken as a whole, represent a very good debate on multiple issues, not the least of which is gun control. Isn't freedom great? You have the right to arm yourself or not, as you see fit. If the Supreme Court takes that right away, will you continue to take your other freedoms for granted? How can you be truly safe when you don't have the right to protect yourself? Good luck!
This is one of the stupidest articles on the planet. Jews don't own guns because they are DANGEROUS. If (God forbid) there was a second Holocaust in America owning a gun would not stop the Government from taking all the Jews to concentration camps. We don't support the second Amendment because then any nutcase can take a gun and shoot someone. There are more effective ways than guns. The second amendment is left over from the revolution. The only reason it should remain is that if it was changed then people could change anything in the Constitution. Judaism is an intellectual civilization, not a violent one. Israelis aren't a pro-gun Culture, they are a country and like nearly every other country on the planet THEY HAVE A MILITIA.
Bottom line: Jews (as a whole) don't have guns because we know better
P.S. Incidentally Steven, I happen to be an "idiotically liberal Jew" and proud of it.
This article is a ridiculous generalization of a particular segment of the jewish community. Outside of your major east coast cities I can assure you that jews in the South, West and Mountain states are far more likely to be gun owners than not. And I am speaking as a 67 year old ma who has lived for many, many years throughout the South and West, not as some insular 'intellectual.'
Major crime fell dramatically in states which have legalized the carrying of concealed handguns, according to a comprehensive new study at the University of Chicago.
For the first time, researchers analyzed crime statistics for all 3,054 counties in the United Sates between 1977 and 1992, according to one of the authors of the unpublished study, Professor John Lott. After adjusting for a general fall in crime rates, the study found that:
In the 31 states that now have "concealed right to carry" laws, murders were down, on average, by 8.5 percent.
Rapes were down 5 percent and serious assaults by 7 percent.
In cities with populations of more than 250,000, murder rates dropped after the passage of such laws by an average of 13.5 percent.
According to the study, the fall in crime did not result from an increased use of guns, but from potential criminals avoiding confrontations. In fact, criminals apparently shifted to lower-risk offenses, since property crimes increased in those states. Other findings included:
The most dramatic falls in murder rates were in areas where the number of women carrying firearms was high.
The study found that for every woman who carries a concealed hand, the murder rate fell by three to four times more than it would have if one more man had carried a concealed gun.
If states with concealed handgun bans had allowed them in 1992, about 1,570 murders, 4,177 rapes and more than 60,000 aggravated assaults would have been avoided.
In addition, the researchers found no evidence of an increase in accidental killings or suicides in states with concealed carry laws.
Judging from the considerable number of handguns already in the hands of Americans, we should have the lowest homicide rate in the world. The United States firearm-related homicide rate of 7.07 per 100,000 population in one year is the highest among the world's industrial nations, 426% higher than Italy, the next-highest ranked country. So much for the self-defense argument.
The U.S. Constitution notwithstanding, I'm not opposed to individually owned firearms, but, unless we're all willing to carry and use 12-gauge shotguns, they're not well suited for self defense. You are more likely to kill a relative or hurt yourself than some neo-Nazis. Let's not use anecdotes to rationalize our paranoia or megalomania.
What does work against thugs, bomb-throwing anarchists, and tyrannical governments is organization: perhaps an armed "well regulated Militia."
Most important, when does the respect for the rule-of-law become shtetl mentality? At gunpoint.
I apologize to inform you, however, your understanding of Jewish self defense in Eastern Europe is seriously flawed. Jews did defend themselves, often successfully against their attackers. There was a Jewish socialist organization called the Bund, active in the late 19th and earlier 20th centuries for whom this was a central pillar of their ideology. A case and point for this would be the lack of anti semetic violence in Warsaw, where the jews were sufficiently numerous and organized to prevent any pogroms. a truer reason for why Jews often oppose Gun ownership would have to do with the liberal tradition of the Jewish people, whose cause is still a matter of debate.
To Phebe Schwartz, commenting below: Talmud does not teach us to die rather than to kill someone else. Dying is incumbent on the Jew only when faced with the sins of incest and worshipping false gods. Otherwise, Talmud makes it clear that "When someone comes to kill you (or your family) kill him first." What's more, we distinguish between murder and killing. Self defense is not murder. Ignoring the need for self defense, on the other hand, is tantamount to suicide.
I agree with David McKinley. Jewish politicos can disarm themselves, if they want, but they have absolutely no right telling ME, I have no right to defend myself.
So bug off, Bloomberg, Schumer, Lautenberg, Feinstein, Nadler, Emanuel, and all you other sons of Abraham!
Judging from the considerable number of handguns already in the hands of Americans, we should have the lowest homicide rate in the world. The United States firearm-related homicide rate of 7.07 per 100,000 population in one year is the highest among the world's industrial nations, 426% higher than Italy, the next-highest ranked country. So much for the self-defense argument.
The U.S. Constitution notwithstanding, I'm not opposed to individually owned firearms, but, they're not well suited for self defense unless we're all willing to carry and use 12-gauge shotguns. You are more likely to kill a relative or hurt yourself than some neo-Nazis. The article's author and several attached commentators use anecdotes to rationalize their paranoia or megalomania, all fear mongering and bullying.
What does work against thugs, bomb-throwing anarchists, and tyrannical governments is organization, perhaps in the form of an armed "well regulated Militia."
Most important, when does the respect for the rule-of-law become shtetl mentality? At gunpoint.
November 8, 1938- the chief of the Berlin police department reportd that the Jews had all been disarmed in accordence with the recently passed gun control laws.
November 10, 1938-Kristaalnacht is unhindered by any gunfire from the Jews.
I think that this is a wonderful article. While there may not be many Nazis in America, the actions of Islamafascists on 9/11 and the threats against Jews in America prove the need for people to be able to defend themselves. The bible says that we should learn the "Song of the bow to defend Jerusalem." Today the "bow" is replaced by the "Jewish Defense Rifle." Lets protect our children and be ready to face danger and not accept the death of Jews as a price we for the "shetel mentality."
To Berl Amsterdam - Poles with 12 firearms held an entire Nazi division out of the Warsaw ghetto for a month because the Germans were afraid and had originally thought they couldn't be shot!
And Wendy Weinbaum has it right - my ancestors didn't have registered arms and nine of them served in the military in the Revolutionary War, and my family have served in every war since (exc. Korea and Desert 1 and 2)- and we've had most of our firearms without permission or registration with the government. Remember, Hitler and Stalin both had all guns registered BEFORE they used that system to confiscate them. An unarmed populace can be subjected very easily.
Jay A. Cohen has no concept of carrying a firearm for self defense. The total number of firearms does not equate to people knowing how to and actually carrying a firearm for self defense any more than owning a Corvette means you can negotiate the high banks at the Daytona Motor Speedway at 180 mph.
In this country (not knowing the constitutions of other countries) the right of self-defense is integral to our legal system and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is also. Our Founding Fathers felt it was second only to our right to Free Speech and Freedom of Religion (NOT freedom from religion, as some would have us believe), and only in the20th Century has the idea of 'only a militia' become popular, despite what you hear from liberals and the likes of Schumer and Clinton. One of the reasons American fighting men (and women) were able to be trained so quickly in WWI and WWII was that the vast majority of soldiers came from the US 'heartland' and the south (where I grew up and) where the knowledge and proper, safe use of firearms was second-nature, so they were excellent shots BEFORE they showed up to serve. I used to travel to middle and high school with both a target rifle and ammunition to practice for the school team and nothing was thought odd about it and no one was scared or thought I would do anyone harm - because all the kids knew how to shoot and respected the use of firearms.
Do Jews have a victim mentality? I don't know, but I truly doubt it. Jews have fought back whenever possible with whatever was at hand, but today they don't seem to realize that one of the most powerful rights they have in this country is under constant attack - and by the party of a majority of Jews - The Democrat Party!
Why are Jews primarily Democrats? I really don't know. Democrats court the Muslims, they want to take any earnings from the 'rich' (which by the present government standards is anything over about $100,000 - check the US Treasury and IRS if you don't believe this), they seek to tell us how to live, want to tell us what medical coverage we should have, and in general EXACTLY how to live our lives. I'm more interested in Freedom of Choice and letting the unencumbered (by government) free market. After all, what program has the US Govt EVER run that was truly successful?
I spend my Friday evenings teaching young people (ages 8-18) (primarily) rifle safety, how to shoot and target shooting, for pleasure and competition. They come in very curious, and leave - even that first evening - proud and confident of their accomplishments. Manytimes, I even start their parents on the road to knowledge of and comfort with firearms; and the understanding that the sport of shooting isn't 'evil' and that it is something with which they and their children should be comfortable and confident. And the Jewish children and parents are NO different than any other group, and I teach all groups.
I would encourage all of us to sit down tonight and read the ENTIRE Declaration of Independence carefully and thoughtfully, and then you will understand why the 2nd Amendment, and all the others, were put down in black and white. Then make a decision to TRULY be responsible for yourself and your family, and that responsibility includes the absolute right of self-defense, wherever that takes you. And then maybe you'll understand why so many of us demand the Right to Carry a Concealed Weapon.
Remember, when you are faced with an imminent threat of physical harm by another person, which way do you want to defend yourself - with a phone to call 911 (and wait) or with a handgun to save your (or your family's) life? You make the choice, you take the responsibility!
I was pleased to read this letter/article about Jews in America owning guns. The Song of Solomon says that "you should learn the song of the bow to protect Jerusalem." Today the bow is replaced by the rifle. If the Jews in Poland owned guns in 1938, the holocause would have never happened. Today, we have Islamofacists from who we need to be able to protect ourselves. It is our obligation to protect our children, by our own hands if necessary.
Liberalism is a mental disorder and unfortunately a very high percentage of Jews are afflicted with this malady. They don't seem to understand the simple concept that gun control only takes guns away from law abiding citizens so that only the criminals and the government will have guns. Criminals don't get their guns from the store and abide by a waiting period, they get their guns from the back of Raul's van. Liberalism has emasculated males and made them believe in very stupid things. I for one will not go down without a fight.
This article seems to call Jews only the secular-liberal people who call themselves "Jew" on striclty racial basis (just as the Nazis did). True Jews are far more armed than anyone would think. Check out the http://www.jpfo.org - the author seems to have forgotten them.
But what do you expect from a publication than blames rabbis for the holocaust and exonerates Kasztner, Weitzmann, Sharet, Ben Gurion, Wise et al from their crimes?
American Jews are anti-gun for several reasons. (1) They are inheritors of a history of kashrut. This means the lack of a historical hunting culture. Whether they keep kosher or not, they still are inheritors of this history. (2) Jews are highly educated and they read a lot. Most are probably aware, that statistically, a gun is far more likely to be used in a domestic dispute or a suicide than in an act of defense. They are also most likely aware that in Europe and Japan, where guns are quite controlled, have only a tiny fraction of the homicides of the U.S. (3) Jews are overwhelmingly liberal. The promiscuous use of guns in the U.S. has contributed to the deaths of our liberal icons. John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. For some reason the assassins rarely eliminate the icons of the far right. The losses of these three men strongly reverberates to this day. The lack of embracing of a gun culture has very little to do with a shtetl mentality. Jews are not marginalized in this culture. If they do battle it most likely through legal or political channels rather than through physical force.
One thing that should be remembered about the Holocaust is that, before the Nazis rose to power, Germany was considered the most tolerant of countries when it came to Jews. If you were to have conducted a survey in 1920 asking people (including Jews) which European country would be most likely to pass the anti-Jewish laws of the 1930's or carry out the Holocaust, Germany would have been at the bottom of everybody's list.
Sammy says '...They are also most likely aware that in Europe and Japan, where guns are quite controlled, have only a tiny fraction of the homicides of the U.S....' This is actually and somewhat surprisingly false.* For example, Luxembourg, where handguns are banned and firearms of any sort are nearly nonexistent, has a higher murder rate than the U.S. Russia and other eastern European countries have murder rates several times higher than the U.S., despite banning handguns. There is in fact a fairly strong correlation between counties that ban the ownership of handguns and high murder rates.
I don't think the murder rate of a country really depends very strongly on how many guns are available to the citizens, although there is a clear body of evidence that completely banning guns leads to higher murder rates. The murder rate is simply a reflection, I think, of how civilized a country really is.
I have heard many Jews express the belief that private ownership of handguns could not have stopped Germany from committing the holocaust. I think that this view is false, as it ignores the many years that it took for Germany to build up to the holocaust. These things do not simply happen overnight, and a stalwart defense early on against the cowardly brownshirts would have stopped the movement. This was the case in the South in those few instances where black Americans appeared armed (with shotguns) to defend themselves from white mobs -- the mobs dispersed, as most in the mob were cowards.
*See Kates & Mauser, "Would banning firearms reduce murder and suicide", Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, v.30(2), 649-694.
I'm surprised that Eric King would write this when he lives in Berekley, California a hotbed of leftist thinking. I'm glad to see that Jews have decided to arm themselves for self and community defense. As shown in 1991 in the Crown Heights pogrom, the police were ordered not to protect the Hassidic Jews who were terrorized for three days because they were not armed. In Cincinnati the anti Semites are afraid to attack Jews because they fear being shot and I reinforce their fear by saying that it's true. For my own family I decided to arm myself and teach my children to defend themselves but I pray to G-d that they'll never have to. As for the liberals who fear people will hurt members of their own families in gun accidents, good safety practices will prevent that. Owning a gun takes responsibility and safe practices.
When you call 911 for police what are you asking? That someone show up with a clipboard and a forensics camera? No! you want someone with a gun. Don't be a hypocrite and ask someone else to put their life on the line when you won't.
Handguns are like fire extinguishers - they help you deal with emergencies quickly. If you can call 911, at least you can be "fighting the fire" until help arrives.
I learned firearms safety as an eight year old. I am now a firearms instructor at my local fish and game club. My wife, who had concerns about guns when we met is now a firearms instructor also and keeps her 9 mm at hand when I am away from home.
Guns and drugs don't mix. If your life priority is to do drugs then you make the right choice by not owning guns (although it still would be good to know how to use them).
Proper training and total adherence to that training will prevent injurous accidents 100% of the time. It is part of "confidence of skill at arms". If the police and military can achieve skill at arms than so can nearly anybody. Last time I checked, membership in Mensa was not required to be a cop or soldier. They are just like us, only with training and commitment, both of which are accessable to us.
If you think EST (now Landmark Seminars) or such programs are empowering, try taking an NRA basic pistol course or getting your concealed carry permit. Need I remind you that the older you get more likely you are to need that empowerment.
Bravo!
You might want to visit JPFO.ORG to find a whole cyber-village of Jews & others who believe in fighting evil - not abetting it.
One other thought - if 'survival' is purchased at the price of allowing rape and murder then aren't you committing a greater sin than the aggressors - for your survival you are committing human sacrifice...?
So, to all who read this with an aversion to Personal Defense Equipment, get whatever counseling you need to overcome your pathology* of weapons and arm yourselves - and help protect a society that has provided all of us with opportunity and liberty.
Note: I am not Jewish. I am, however, a member of a religion which has been the target (not victim) of pogroms and ethnic cleansing here in the USA since the 1830s. This has not been too noticeable (except on an individual level) in modern times. Historically we have had powerful enemies and have resisted. Resisted by my people in the day of cap-lock single shot rifles we were victorious... these overt attacks have not happened in a while. Perhaps with self loading rifles and automatic rifles invented (or perfected) by one of my people (John Moses Browning) it maybe that it is too much of a fight to those who would whip up or man a ‘mobocracy’ against my people? Good! Let them hate as long as they fear.
In the day (1830-1892) – the Murder, Rape, robbery and other property crimes were rampant against my people – and resisted. Albeit with varying degrees of successes at first… but as the weak and foolish were weeded out of Zion the tough and prepared ones became too much of a match for Mobs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_War
Thus, the State (Missouri & Illinois) took up the banner of destroying our faith and our people. It was the Governor of Illinois who orchestrated the assassination of the Prophet and put the pressure on our people to leave America.
When that proved useless at destroying us (through the “American Exodus”) the Fed’s sent there army after us… with that threat met and held in check we were allowed to live in peace with the of occupation of Federal troops. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_War
The next 50 years were a back and forth power struggle (with my people mostly losing in court what could not be taken in the field) church leaders were arrested, church property was seized, our religious practices were deemed illegal and punishable, members practicing their faith were arrested, their children given away to adoptive parents in the east, members of our faith were not allowed to serve in the Civil Service, or hold political office nor serve as teachers or have our own schools, this came to a head in 1892 when the Supreme Court upheld the contention of the federal gov’t that it was allowed to legislate against our faith and set religious standards (and disenfranchise our women – who had been voting for 30 years). With that done we accepted 2nd class public status and simply threw ourselves into the traces to do what we could with what we had – but we do not forget.
Eventually, we were allowed to serve in congress (early 20th Century) the last vestiges of Federal domination were gone. With little problem until the atomic bombings of the 1940s thru 1950s. Yes, I know the bombs were set off in Nevada… there is that little thing called wind and that not-so little thing called fallout… and gosh Central Utah just happens to be down wind… aw, heck – coincidences… maybe? Conspiracy… who cares! Indifference, spite, and Stupidity? That last one gets my vote.
State sponsored terror of my peoples has 'officially' been dormant with the 1976 revocation of the "Extermination Order" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extermination_order
It is always the nature of peoples to fear that which they do not understand and hate that which they envy… it is the responsibility of every Adult to protect his faith, family, and property.
I can not speak for my Jewish cousins, I will not even speak for my brothers and sisters, I can only speak for myself – when I say never again will a mob rape our women or burn our chapels or desecrate our temples or murder our people I mean it. Not because I am really serious or… ever-so-cross with bad people, but because a Glock 20 (10mms rule lesser calibers drool) lives on my hip and a Garand lives within 50 meters of me… Never Again!... because I WILL STOP THEM.
Remember in this Election Year there is only one candidate out of the four who supports your right from G-d to have a defensive sidearm – that is Dr. Ron Paul – the only republican in the Race… “End the Empire, Restore the Republic”! http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
He who speaks the Truth should have one foot in the stirrup... - An old Appalachian Proverb.
Sic Semper Tyrannis – Scott Campanaro
*A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity. -- Sigmund Freud, “General Introduction to Psychoanalysis” See also: http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-n-z/ragingagainstselfdefense.htm
Linked here from JPFO website. Bravo to Eric King! First, I live in an ordinary American community, with some measure of violence (from some of our "Cossacks" who prey on the law-abiding community) and always go armed! Second, to paraphrase(?) Heinlein, "an armed society is a polite society", so I conclude that I'm helping to preserve a polite society. Third, we can never be certain that our government (national, state, local) will always protect us, so the right and duty of self defense from both the lawless and the putatively law enforcing. Finally, if we don't assert our g-d given (and constitutionally guaranteed) right to self defense, we can easily lose it!
Maybe it's because most Jews embrace the Talmudic reasoning that it is better to die than to kill someone, even in self-defense.
I don't know how Phebe got the response that she posted but, I beleive the Tora says it is a sin to stand by and watch your neighbors blood be shed. Otherwise by Jewish law you are required to go to the defense of the helpless. It has always been a puzzel to me as to why most Jews are like this but I would think they would learn like I did 60 years ago that it will never happen to me.
Mr.King. My question is why so many Jewish politicans are aganist the firearms ownership and the right to protect ones self and family? One in question is Senator Eric Schneiderman (D-31)of New York. He is bringing Sen. Bill 2404 up. He is trying to take the "Jewish Defense Rifle." away from us.Why?
To the poster that indicated this is not 1930s Germany. I'll leave it as an excersize for the studennt to draw all teh parallels but the centralization of control and the whole term "Homeland Security" and the patriot act scare me silly. Eroding civil rights in the name of protecting the state will haunt us. I'm sure a dedicated researcher can find other parallels...
Mr. King, I applaud your courage in publishing this article. My family came to the US from Lithiuania around 1904. They came from a shtetl. Thankfully, they didn't have the shetetl mentality. Defense of self and family is not only a right but an obligation. Thank you again.
I just finished reading all of the comments to this article...Sadley America is becomminf an increasingly violent society.A good analogy is that there are wolves...sheep...(thats the liberal among us.)..and sheep dogs... those of us who believe in our right to be safe and who protect the sheep...Lets face it...there are not enough police in your community to protect everyone... Consider a firearm a piece of safety equiptment...like a fire extinguisher...you hope never to have a fire but if you do, you have a tool to deal with it...you can choose to be a victim or choose to be a sheep dog...your choice...but remember.... choices have consequences.
Excellent article and discussion!
I'm Jewish and an armed 2A supporter, both inside and outside of the home.
So, who are you voting for? What priority are you giving 2A rights over other issues?
Current NRA member, and soon to be member of JPFO!
"My position is that anybody who is in favor of gun control is a f*cking moron" - Jackie Mason
Jay's still reading the Old York Times for his statistics. He needs to pick up a copy of John Lott's book (nothing like a fellow with OCD when it comes to backing up facts).
As long as I can remember my father would always wonder why Jews are so liberal and anti-gun. He could never understand why Jews would want to disarm fellow Jews. I have been raised in a Jewish home with guns. When my dad felt I was old enough he taught me how to safely handle and shoot them. I have done the same with my kids. As Jews we must never forget and thinking that it will never happen here is a falacy. Too many Americans forgot what happened here on 9/11/2001. ALL Americans, Jews and Gentiles must NEVER FORGET and be allowed to protect ourselves from ALL enemies, foreign OR domestic.
Mr. King's...presumptions seeking to support his theory to the effect that Jewish peoples have adopted a 'shtetl mentality', and - in so doing, their collective reflex has resulted in "American Jews are overwhelmingly in favor of gun bans' is inherrently flawed on many levels. Indeed, while the retaliatory consequences being of high proability if Jews in Tzarist Russia stood up - armed, against Cossacks is difficult to take exception with, I beg to differ with Mr. King's general assertions and his conclusions. In reading my Grandfather's memoirs of the period when the family was living in a 'shtetl' during the pogroms of 1905, his father was armed with a pistol and a large knife while in the attic with the rest of the family waiting for the Cossacks to withdraw from the village {being located in proximity to Odessa}. Shortly after the 1905...episode, arriving in the United States and homesteading in North Dakota, my Grandfather served in the US Army during World War One. He was decorated a number of times and had seen duty in some of the bloodiest campaigns of the 'war to end all wars.' He was an avid Zionist and secured a residential property a dozen kiolometers south of the Lebanon around 1950, where he'd spend a part of the year {with the balance in Chicago} thereafter; his brother lived there fulltime. We never spoke of firearms together, though he was - obviously, proficient in their use. My father served in World War Two, though injuries sustained shortly before his unit deployed to Europe kept him in the United States for the balance of the war. I had never seen an acutal firearm until I spent the summer of my 16th year in Israel. There was something...empowering about seeing so many Jews with firearms. Like most Americans, I'd been tought from a very early age that Jews had been victims throughout their {our} history. I've always questioned why so many European Jews failed to put up active resistence to the Nazi-regime. As I walked through the remains of Dachau {taking a sojourn there while studying in Europe as an undergraduate}, I could not help but to wonder why so many of my faith had - essentially, put up little or no resistance. Without reciting a significant reiteration of history here, I've concluded that the 'golden-age' for European Jews between roughly 1880 and 1926 had lulled them - collectively, into a malaise of false security. The desire to be as one with the indiginous people of any country was so appealing to Jews of the latter 19th and early 20th century that they {we} turned a blind eye to the reality of our second class status. They {we} adopted their national identity as being paramount in many instances and this was to be - sadly, the undoing of many - if not most, of them. Apart from Israel, Jews are NOT first class citizens of ANY other country. While the United States - notably with a great deal of debate and most reluctantly, allowed some Jews to immigrate here after World War Two, shortly before and during the war the United States did NOT extend its fellowship to the world's Jews. Any student of history knows that the United States turned ships of Jews away from these shores and that the British {until their 'Mandate' was ended} actively rounded up would be immigrants to Israel and housed [aka: imprisoned] them {us} on Cypress. One could suggest that the United Nations' passage of the recognition of Israel in 1948 was seen as an opportunity to have the survivors of the Holocaust locate well outside of Europe and/or far away from the Untied States. After the catastrophe of World War Two surviving Jews - throuhout the world, were in a state of collective shock. Not unlike earlier golden-eras, e.g. that in Poland when Jews acted as administrators for the Tzar - until the economy turned sour and the Jews were set upon; the period of relative...tolerance of those Jews who remained in Europe was short-lived. Anti-Jewish beliefs and activities are on the rise in France, Britain, Germany, Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, etc, etc. It seems to me that the anti-firearms propensity of American Jews comes down to two underlying facts. First and foremost, the world's Jews are out of potential places / countries to be accepted in. America's Jews - despite numerous private clubs {notably country-clubs} having been 'restricted' until very recently, desperately want to THINK that America is a safe haven for them {us} and that they've {we've} been accepted as equals here. Nothing could be further from the truth, but, more on that in a moment. Secondly, the literacy rate and theological background of America's Jews leads them {us} to believe that they/we can - and should, resolve every difference by peaceful means. Obviously, this latter point is nothing more/other than our historical denial of the truths of the extent to which the rest of the population does not accept us, will not accept us and cannot - for a host of reasons, accept us. Other elevate themselves by putting others down. America's Jews are in such a profound state of denial in their/our desire to believe that this is their {our} promised land that we - collectively perhaps, blind ourselves to the overt realities of the fact that we are still disliked, mistrusted, characterized and WILL suffer the ages'-old consequences of the faith of our fathers. America's...recent and very brief tolerance of Jews {say since 1961/2 to the present time} has been an acceptence of convenience. Whether the motivation of some guilt for the Untied States and 'Christian' origanizations not having DONE anything - effectively, to limit the onslaught against Europe's Jews, or, the self-serving fact that many post World War Two Jewish refugees brought with them to this country advanced knowledge of rocket-science, physics, medicine, etc, being another. Regardless, as the American economy tanks - and it IS tanking, historical review will show us - time and time again, that it's easy to blame the Jews and the Jews SHALL be {yet again} served up as sacrafices on the alter of scape-goating. I became proficient in firearms usage nearly two decades ago, as are many - many, of my Jewish friends and associates. While New York's Jews may be deperate to hide behind their fears - as Jews, and become deniers of fact, and purport 'gun-violence' this and 'gun-violence' that {as is also the case in Chicago and on the 'left-coast'}; speaking for myself and knowing many other Jews of the same beliefs, I am one Jew who isn't going to walk quietly into a railway car, 'shower' or forced labor camp. Any American Jew who purports that 'it can't happen here' has simply adopted the osterich's position and, in so doing, their b-hinds are presenting an open target. To deny that skin-heads, neo-Nazi, white-supremicist, 'Christian'-zealots and other...extreme groups today aren't capable of becoming the National Socialists/Brown Shirts of America tomorrow is...preposterous. It's also very - very dangerous. That ANY Jew over the age of 21 wouldn't possess and be proficient with firearms is simply beyond my capacity to either understand and/or to accept. To be armed is both to be a citizen and to be capable of mitigating; to be unarmed is to both be a subject and to be defenseless. My advice to America's Jews is to arm yourselves - to the teeth, practice with 'em, be proficient with 'em and then you/we can pray that we never have to use 'em. The alternative is to be potentially altered to becoming a premature part of the nitrogen-cycle. I prefer the means to effectively mitigate!
The idea that the Talmud teaches that it is better to die than to kill, even in self-defense, is flat-out wrong. The Talmud teaches the exact opposite - that it is your duty to act in self-defense, even to killing the aggressor, if necessary.
"If someone comes to kill you, arise quickly and kill him." (Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin. 1994,2, 72a; The Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Berakoth. 1990, 58a, 62b)
I constantly ask myself the same questions you've asked. I try to talk about this with my mother (knee-jerk anti-gun liberal) in a reasonable matter but it always ends with her refusing to talk anymore and claiming, "You're being paranoid,". I think after all of our history and millions of jews being slaughtered like animals, it may be time to start being 'paranoid'. Really I think she is scared that something will happen here (against jews or against the people in general) but shes trying to surpress those thoughts. It's totally beyond me why the majority of Jews in America support liberals and their socialist agenda. Maybe it's the whole liberal elitism that's appealing to them or maybe it's just that they've been force fed liberal propoganda from an early age, but whatever the case, Jews should face reality and start embracing self defense.
I believe this is a very good explanation indeed! Torah makes it very clear that self-defense is right, justified and is actually ordered. My father's family kept their Jewishness a secret after arriving to America from Poland and Germany from that time period the writer mentioned. They even changed the name slightly to sound "English". I am rediscovering my Judaism and did more research in the Torah to make sure that what I believed was correct. I lived in a bubble: I assumed that my fellow Jews would remember what happened during the Holocaust. There is on one to protect us...no government will protect the Jews. It is our God given right to protect ourselves...even the 2nd Amendment will not protect us. I started Sames Israeli Instinctive Shooting School with the idea that it would be extremely popular with my fellow Jews and this has not been the case. The Jewish Community has not supported my efforts at all. I plan to change my name back to SHAMES for the world to see. From what I understand, 4/5ths of my family in Poland were murdered during those years. Theodore Sames II, sames1128@yahoo.com
I congratulate the author for a well thought out exposition. My Jewish community is a flock of sheep for the most part. However, I do know many Jews who are trained and ready to protect themselves.
One point I would like to make is that in the USA, guns have been associated as a political totem of the right wing. That group has not been friendly to Jews for a long time. The recent turn of Evangelics to support Israel while waiting for Rapture doesn't wash out the association of guns as a totem of an antithetical group. Thus, the association of Right wing antisemitism and guns is a factor. One only has to go to a gun show to find, every once in awhile, a Nazi or Racist display. That has been becoming unacceptable recently at the more conventional outlets but it's there. Gun forums have to police themselves from such racist postings.
The combination of the cultural values of passitivity and the tie to right wing culture probably has convinced many Jews that they cannot look to self-defense but just hope some survive.
Modern theories of violence and genocide suggest the aggressor has an emotional dominance over the victim. Jews have adopted this view for the most part in the USA. If we accept the domination, maybe some will survive.
The Israeli example is seen as aberrant and not relevant to us. In fact, it would engender cognitive dissonance and the resultant anxiety would cause an overvaluing of passivity and victimhood. I see folks incredibly negative to Israeli and almost supplicants to the Palestinians in a way that is pathological. Of course, all want peace but the folks I describe almost welcome the destruction of Israel in some kind of guilt. They certainly wouldn't want to defend themselves here.
Very interesting article and discussion.
The repeated claim that guns are more dangerous to their owners (and owner families) than to intruders is false. The discredited Kellerman study failed to recognize that the overwhelming majority of deaths in the study were in households of people with criminal records and chronic alcoholic and drug problems.
Confederate and WWII war memorabilia displayed at gun shows does not constitute racism. These are historical artifacts.
Rightwing antipathy toward Jews (if it actually exists as a widespread phenomenon) may be motivated more by the leftist leanings of many Jews than by antisemitism.
Jews are EVIL satan worshippers!!!
That is rediculous! Everybody knows that Jews eat people and the only way to prevent it is to take guns away from them. All of them!!!
Very interesting article and discussion.
The repeated claim that guns are more dangerous to their owners (and owner families) than to intruders is false. The discredited Kellerman study failed to recognize that the overwhelming majority of deaths in the study were in households of people with criminal records and chronic alcoholic and drug problems.
Confederate and WWII war memorabilia displayed at gun shows does not constitute racism. These are historical artifacts.
Rightwing antipathy toward Jews (if it actually exists as a widespread phenomenon) may be motivated more by the leftist leanings of many Jews than by antisemitism.
The "idiotically liberal and proud of it" posters who keep claiming that Jews have never been a target in the US are showing their ignorance of current events.
Apparently, they fail to recall Buford Furrow, the skinhead who shot up the North Valley Jewish Community Center. Particularly, they fail to recall that Furrow cased but decided to pass up attacking three earlier targets -- the Skirball Cultural Center, the University of Judaism, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance -- AFTER FINDING THOSE FACILITIES GUARDED BY PEOPLE WITH GUNS. Instead, he hit the Community Center, "because security was virtually non-existent."
This might also explain why Israel often lets Pallywood slanders go largely unchallenged. In the Mohammed al-Dura case, the Israeli government accepted the claim that the boy was killed by Israeli fire, offering only the excuse of accident. They did not (then or since) challenge what seemed a minor slander. I suspect that that was because of the instinctive belief that "fighting back" would just provoke a larger, overwhelming attack - just like the shtetl and the Cossacks.
WHAT IS THIS SHIT ABOUT DRUNKEN COSSACS RAPING AND MURDERING??? ALL BULLSHIT
NOW ... DONT LIVE IN OTHER PEOPLES COUNTRIES AND NOTHING WILL TOUCH YOU
Jews are anti-gun because most of them are part of the communist mindthink. I bet it truly is a catch22 for jews. On the one hand they want to de-gun America so the communist way of governing can be "safely" thrust upon the 85% christian nation. But on the otherhand the jew has been told "evil nazis are hiding behind every rock" to keep their own masses faithful to the party line. Thus guns are a way for jews to feel somehow protected against "those evil baddies". Until the jew decides to change, in behavior and belief, you will always be sheep guided by leaders who do not necessarily have the jews best interest at heart.
Shtetl Mentality Addendum
I am the author of this piece which was originally entitled “The Shtetl Mentality.” I would like to thank all of you who read it, especially those who took the time to comment on it. I am particularly grateful to the commentator who signed himself “Grif” who obviously disliked the essay intensely but did not take the easy way out by saying to himself, “What trash” and turning the page. He took the time to write a response which raised some serious points to which I would like to respond.
Grif was correct. Jews never have had it better than we have it in America. While there still is some limited anti-Semitism, it certainly has not resulted in pogroms. Jews are represented in positions of real power, even in the United States Senate and on the Supreme Court of the United States. He asked the question, “Where are the Cossacks in Berkeley?” to prove that no one, Jew or otherwise, needs a gun. American society obviously is not beset by Cossacks, so why do I believe that all sane, law-abiding adult citizens who wish to should own firearms and furthermore that all gun owners willing to undergo serious fingerprint and background searches as well as classes in the safe, legal and proficient use of firearms should be licensed to carry a concealed handgun?
The answer is simple. I live in a relatively low crime neighborhood in Berkeley, but not long before I moved in, only two blocks away a man took out the trash at about 10:00PM. Two men pulled up in a car and demanded money from him. He gave them the $20.00 in his pocket. They said, “That’s not enough,” and shot him. He staggered back into his home, told his wife what had happened and died. We may not be confronted with fascists who want to round us up and send us to death camps, but our society is filled with violent criminals who prey on us, and a woman raped and murdered by a stoned crack head is just as dead as one raped and murdered by Cossacks.
Although the level of random violence in our society has declined slightly almost every year since 1993, it is still high enough that a reasonable person could fear being attacked. Those who have read Professor John Lott’s book, “More Guns/Less Crime” understand that widespread issuance of concealed weapons permits to sane, law abiding adults reduces violent assaults because criminals do not know which potential victims are armed and therefore hesitate to attack people. Twenty years of studies of the laws regarding issuance of concealed weapons permits in the forty states that now require such issuance provide ample evidence of this. Furthermore we now have over four million people with such concealed weapons permits, and despite media scare mongering, we have not had wild west shoot outs at every minor traffic accident. The holders of these permits have proved to be among the most law abiding groups in our society. As another commentator pointed out, Professor Gary Kleck has demonstrated that between 1.5 and 2.4 million times a year law abiding citizens successfully used firearms to protect themselves against crime, in the vast majority of cases without ever firing a shot.
I hate to resort to bumper sticker thinking, but there is great truth in the line, “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.” We want very much to be secure, but folks like Grif want to avoid responsibility for their own security. They want to pay others, the police, to protect them, but the courts have ruled that police have no responsibility to individuals, only to the society at large. Ultimately each of us is responsible for the security of ourselves and our families, and handguns are clearly the most effective means of personal defense.
As for Grif’s comment that I must be smoking too much medical marijuana because I oppose additional gun control, which really is nothing more than victim disarmament; this is purely a descent into the argumentum ad hominem, something he did in an amusingly condescending and sarcastic manner, but the truth of the matter is that a serious debater with sound arguments does not attack his opponent personally unless his own arguments are weak which Grif’s clearly are.
Crime and violence in our society are caused by sociological conditions; poverty, racism, poor educational and job opportunities, illegal drugs and the illegality of those same drugs, etc. Widespread ownership of firearms by law abiding, sane adult citizens has nothing to do with it. Statistics going back to the Reagan administration show that children who went through the Four Year Old Head Start program under Lyndon Johnson had far lower levels of felony conviction, alcoholism and drug addiction as well as far higher levels of high school and college graduation and stable marriage as well as fewer children than similar children who did not experience the benefits of Head Start. This does not even touch upon the potential benefits of Three Year Old Head Start which did not become widespread.
The solutions to crime and violence in our society lie in expensive public education programs which legislators know will work but fear to pass because they require raising taxes. All gun control is is a trick by rich people to convince the middle class electorate that the problems of crime and violence can be solved merely by putting into practice the absurd notation of disarming the victims of crime without raising taxes on the rich to fund expensive reform of public education... And laws to protect American jobs would help a lot, too, so the children who go through a drastically improved educational system can find satisfying careers when they graduate.
Guns save lives - no question about it. It's not even a debate anymore. Since the Torah prohibits Jews from standing by and permitting the blood of a fellow Jew from being spilled, I think that's the surest sign that owning a gun for Jewish self-defense is a mitzvah.
How important do I think gun ownership is to the Jewish people? I'll give you a hint: Maimonides' 613 codefied laws should replace one of the 100 rules pertaining only to a king and replace it with "All Jews shall own a firearm to protect themselves, their families, their fellow Jews and the stranger among them."
As for those who are frightened by the sight of a gun, either work through your fears or have your wife keep take care of the self-defense duties around the house.
Additionally, I think all Jewish women should be strongly encouraged to carry a small revolver in their purse at all times - no exceptions!
It's such a wise move that gentile women should follow suit.
As for guns being used in domestic violence occurences, think about it guys! The anti-gunners count a woman who shoots her abusive ex-husband as if it were a crime and not an example of guns used for self-defense.
Once you buy a gun and have fired hundreds of rounds through it and it's sat in your bedroom for months, the whole scary-aspect of a "gun in the house" disappears and you realize that you were lied to in the first place. Guns are just tools.
But what makes a gun such a special tool is that no lawnmower ever prevented a murderous thug from attacking a Jewish family as they walked home from shul.
Most guns are fairly inexpensive. So, for between $250-$900 you can buy a very nice stainless steel revolver.
As a Jew I have always wondered why Jews sat back and not only abhorbed guns but anything that brought on violence of any sort. Unfortunatly we never learn. Jessie Jackson can call us hymies and it's ok he's black an it's acceptable. We are called [word deleted]s and Jew bastards and we accept it.Call a black a nigger and it's a fight. Jews when insulted stand with a stupid grin on our faces and do nothing. We live in our own self imposed mental ghetto. Perhaps one day we will learn,I hope it won't be to late.
I can only speak for myself but you might be surprised who is armed these days.