Citation(s) from the Gun Policy News media archive
More Israelis Applying for Gun Permits
Virtual Jerusalem
19 November 2014
Relevant contents
Yoram Issachar, who owns a contracting company in Jerusalem with his father and two brothers, has carried a Baretta 765 for the past 25 years. He works in Jewish communities on land Israel acquired in the West Bank, employing 15 - 30 Palestinian laborers, and carries the gun for his protection. Now, after the attack in Jerusalem that killed four worshippers and a police officer, he plans to upgrade to a larger gun. Immediately after the attack, he says, he took out his gun and cleaned it to make sure it was ready for use.
"I want to buy a Glock because each bullet is larger, and it shoots faster," he told The Media Line. "It will give me more security if I need it…"
In the wake of a series of attacks that have left 11 Israelis dead over the past few weeks, Israelis are lining up to get their gun licenses. Others who already have licenses are carrying the guns with them more often. The Israeli government asked everyone who already has a gun to carry them in public, to help reinforce Israel's security situation, and some who would leave their guns at work, such as security guards, are urged to bring them home.
"People are nervous after recent events, and anyone who has a gun should carry it around rather than leave it at home," Yakov Amit, the director of the gun licensing department for the Ministry of Public Security, told The Media Line. "We want as many people as possible to be able to respond to an attack…"
Israelis who carry guns say they make them feel safer…
Kirschner did his compulsory army service as a sniper. He lives in Ma'alei Adumim, a Jewish community 4.5 miles east on Jerusalem on land that Israel acquired in 1967. Several times he has had rocks thrown at his car as he traveled to and from Jerusalem, but he has never opened fire. He is responsible for coordinating security at his synagogue.
"In the attack on the synagogue in Jerusalem they were all ultra-Orthodox and none of them had guns, probably because they didn't serve in the Israeli army," he said. "Maybe if some of them had been armed, they could have shot the attacker before he killed anyone."
His behavior has changed since the synagogue attack. Instead of leaving the gun in a bag on the back seat, he leaves it on the passenger seat. Issachar, the contractor, says he used to leave his gun at home when praying at the synagogue two doors down from his Jerusalem home, but now he takes it with him. His daughters are afraid to go out running after dark.
Some who carry guns say do it less for personal safety than to protect other people.
"If someone is going to attack me, I probably won't be able to respond quickly enough," Harold Bergstein, a Canadian-born Jerusalem dentist told The Media Line. "But if I saw an attack like the one that happened in the synagogue, with God's help, I would keep my wits about me, and would know what to do."
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