In the light of recent American shootings and renewed discussion about gun control, I researched Judaism’s attitudes to gun control.
As I expected, Judaism does not have a clear position on gun control (or any almost any contemporary political issue in the diaspora, Judaism simply does not issue clear directives on how Jews should try to shape politics in gentile countries). As one Chabad rabbi summarized: “I believe the issue can be argued on both sides from a Judaic point of view.”
Israel’s position on gun control is complicated:
Israeli gun control regulations ‘opposite of US’
By BEN HARTMAN \ 12/18/2012
A gun lover’s dream or a stringently controlled police state that would make a National Rifle Association supporter’s blood boil? In recent days, following the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 26 dead, including 20 children, Israel has been mentioned as a country awash in guns yet still free of such random massacres. Many have pointed out that the difference between the countries is not in the prevalence of guns, but the regulations that accompany them.
According to Yaakov Amit, the head of the Public Security Ministry’s Firearms Licensing Department, the difference between the gun laws in the US and Israel are as clear as night and day.
“There is an essential difference between the two. In America the right to bear arms is written in the law, here it’s the opposite… only those who have a license can bear arms and not everyone can get a license.”
Amit said gun licenses are only given out to those who have a reason because they work in security or law enforcement, or those who live in settlements “where the state has an interest in them being armed.”
He added that former IDF officers above a certain rank can get a license.
Anyone who fits the requirements, is over age 21 and an Israeli resident for more than three years, must go through a mental and physical health exam, Amit said, then pass shooting exams and courses at a licensed gun range, as well as background checks by the Public Security Ministry.
Once they order their firearm from a gun store, they are allowed to take it home with a one-time supply of 50 bullets, which Amit said they cannot renew.
The gun owner must retake his license exam and testing at the gun range every three years. As of January, Amit said, a new law will go into effect requiring gun owners to prove that they have a safe at home to keep their weapon in.
Amit said that since 1996, not long after the Rabin assassination, there has been a continuous reduction in the amount of weapons in public hands due larger to stricter regulations. He estimated there are about 170,000 privately-owned firearms in Israel, or enough for around one out of every 50 Israelis, far less per capita than the US, where there are an estimated more than 300 million privately owned guns for a population of a little more than 300 million.
Amit also said there are only approximately 2,500 people in the country who have gun licenses for hunting, and they must first get approval from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
Aside from Israel’s strict gun laws, reasons for the lack of mass shootings can be attributed to the country’s closely knit family structure, small size and intimacy and informality between strangers or the universal health care which makes mental health services available for all.
In the diaspora, Jewish groups predominantly line up on the side of strict gun control:
After Newtown, Jews Lead Renewed Push on Guns
Nathan Guttman December 23, 2012Jewish organizations pride themselves on gun control stances that date back to the early days of the debate, following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and of President Kennedy. Most played a supportive role in passing legislation then limiting access to weapons, and have since reaffirmed their commitment to reducing the availability of guns.
One reason for broad Jewish support of gun control, Mariaschin said, has to do with the community’s sense of security, “which perhaps leads us to feel that the possession of assault weapons is completely unneeded.”
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, former head of the Reform movement, listed in a recent Haaretz article several reasons for Jews siding with supporters of gun control: the community’s affiliation with the Democratic Party; the fact that Jews are urban people and detached from the culture of hunting or gun ownership, and suspicion toward the NRA, which is “associated in the minds of many Jews with extremist positions that frighten Jews and from which they instinctively recoil.”
The Jews I know are mainly Orthodox Jews (many of whom agree with the late Meir Kahane’s slogan, “Every Jew, a 22!”). They mainly vote Republican. They don’t want Muslim immigration, they don’t want Mexican immigration, they don’t care about civil rights, they don’t care about blacks, and they largely support law enforcement, widespread gun ownership and strong neighborhood watch programs.
