How can a Jew—any Jew—be pro-gun control? Regardless of the reasons, Jewish anti-2A fervor never ceases to amaze me (a gun-carrying Jew). And when you look at their logic, well, there’s but one word for the mindset that spawns it: naiveté. Over at the Huffington Post, Rabbi Michael Lerner has lowered the bar on downgrading the individual’s right, indeed obligation, to self-defense. Reacting to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the Berkley-based author says America needs to remove its citizens’ Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms—after teaching them “non-violence both as a philosophy of life and as a practical way to live one’s life.” Then we’re ready to adopt . . .
A constitutional amendment to ban all guns, and to create special holding units for hunting rifles to be held in control of locally elected officials in every neighborhood who keep the rifles under lock and key except when given to hunters during a hunting season and to be returned immediately thereafter, with all necessary criminal controls and penatlies for those who do not return them in a timely manner and those who continue to hold on to their guns privately. No private ownership of guns of any sort. Police must similarly be disarmed, and allowed only to use billy clubs and mace, except in emergencies in which a judge signs a warrant for the temporary use of lethal force against someone who is using lethal force. Lesser measures (background checks, banning only extreme assault weapons, etc.) are wimply and will have only slight impact.
Strangely, rabbi Lerner hasn’t learned anything from the suffering of tens of millions of Jews and the destruction of six million members of the tribes. Luckily, even the most vociferous gun control advocates (e.g. NY Senator Charles Schumer on today’s Meet the Press) aren’t calling for a ban or confiscation.
On the other hand, maybe not. Senator Schumer is calling for a ban on the sale of assault weapons (a.k.a., modern sporting rifles). So maybe the world ends with a whimper, not a bang. A gently snuffling camel’s nose under the tent. If you know what I mean.
The Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership do. And they’re as determined as I am to keep that from happening. Again. That’s their graphic above. In case you didn’t know.