It’s a little known fact: Israel has strict gun control laws and very few licensed concealed carriers. According to the Times of Israel, only 2.5 percent of the population can legally carry a firearm. (Long gun open carry is restricted to members of the IDF.) Well, that’s how it was before the recent stabbing attacks on the populace smack dab in the middle of the country. “There’s no doubt that recent events show that every citizen is now a potential target for shooting or stabbing and that’s why I have applied for a license to own a pistol,” Dotan Cohen, a 40-year-old accountant who lives near Gan Shmuel, where a recent attack occurred, told FoxNews.com . . .
“When I spoke to the local council this morning about my application, they told me they are overwhelmed with the number of people seeking to receive a license to carry a gun.” How overwhelmed?
Israel’s public security ministry has been deluged with more than 8,000 gun license requests per day over the past two weeks, a huge increase over its regular 150 license requests per day. Tel Aviv gun dealer Yariv Ben Yehuda told The Marker sales are up 30 percent, and customers also have cleaned the shelves of pepper spray . . .
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat urged people with a firearms license to carry their weapons instead of keeping them at home under lock and key.
“One advantage that Israel has is that there are quite a few ex-members of military units with operational combat experience,” Barkat told his citizens. “Possessing weapons increases the confidence of residents, who know that in addition to police, there are many people who are not afraid to intervene. If we look at the statistics in Jerusalem and elsewhere, we see that aside from the police, civilians carrying weapons have foiled terror attacks. They will increase the likelihood of fast intervention.”
Looks like there’s been a sea change in Israel’s gun control regime. And I guess you could say that a gun control proponent is just someone who isn’t all that worried about getting stabbed at random. In fact, I wonder what would happen in New York City if Islamic extremists went all stabby on the local populace.
[h/t RC]
In fact, I wonder what would happen in New York City if Islamic extremists went all stabby on the local populace.
They would ban knives.
Wrong, they would ban ordinary citizens from walking on the sidewalk, clearly it’s too dangerous and offends those wishing practice their peaceful religion.
This is America dude. Why would Islamic extremists bother bringing knives to a gunfight?
http://nypost.com/2014/10/24/man-who-struck-cop-with-ax-supported-isis/
They don’t need guns in order to murder.
I woke up to the news of the stabbing in Sweden. I think we’ll find out soon as this becomes more and more common.
The old media would not mention the name or religion of the person involved; if the person was of african or mid-eastern descent with a name that starts with Muhammad or derivations of such and blame the attack on work place violence as the individual yelled Allhu Ahkbar, (even if it was outside and random people attacked).
Then they would ban knives over two inches.
Ban knives over 2″? In Rwanda, “people” who couldn’t get a real machete made them out of sheet metal roofing.
Published April 2014:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-million-killed-by-machete-club-and-gun-rwanda-remembers-its-genocide-20-years-later/
The violence Rwanda saw is nearly unimaginable. Hutu attackers burned down churches with hundreds or thousands of Tutsis inside. Machete-wielding attackers entered homes and slaughtered children and grandparents. Mr. Clinton, in his 1998 speech, said: “Scholars of these sorts of events say that the killers, armed mostly with machetes and clubs, nonetheless did their work five times as fast as the mechanized gas chambers used by the Nazis.”
——–
But Hitler keeps getting the good press.
Lockdown the city and then ban knives?
This gave me a good laugh. It’s spot-on accurate though.
They would cower in their homes, hoping for someone to save then instead of doing it themselves. And ban knives. I don’t understand why NYCers are considered Americans. I don’t.
Knives? Hell nearly a decade ago a typical mentally disturbed NYC denizen, recently released after one of his many short stays in nut-house, in the mold of infamous Wildman of 96th St, Larry Hogue, prowled Midtown Manhattan for days assaulting pedestrians from behind hitting them in the head with a cobblestone. At the same another recently freed whack-job was springing from the shadows at night in Brooklyn’s Borough Park, a heavily Hasidic area, whacking those walking on the sidewalks in their heads from behind with hammer. Sadly the first perpetrator was caught, detained, and later released back into society, the second tried the “hammer ambush” on an NYPD officer responding to a report about his reign of terror and was shot D-E-A-D, DEAD. At the time many in Borough Park abandoned the sidewalks and began walking in the streets to avoid becoming a victim since NYC does not allow law-abiding citizens to defend themselves with firearms.
What would happen….hmmm
De Blasio would wet himself, then declare a state of emergency and declare martial law. He’d ask for the National Guard to be deployed, federal funding for an additional 10,000 police officers and demand increased gun control measures. That they were stabbings is not germane…
“…and demand increased gun control measures”
Right on target with that one. Mass stabbings? Ban guns. Because, guns.
Because (in his so-called mind) there is no point in banning knives until all the guns are gone. THEN you can actually address the stabbing issue, by, you know, banning stabbing implements.
… and the NYPD would start busting caps at anyone carrying anything vaguely ‘knife’ shaped.
I have wonder before what is the percentage of illegal firearm ownership in Israel. An old UZI and a Hi-power stashed inside a wall by grandad type stuff.
I have wondered that as well….
Know anybody in Israel?
Yes, the NYC mayor and the state governor would say that the SAFE was a good first step, but it wasn’t enough. More guns need to be banned.
I recently purchased an Israeli milsurp FNH Hi-Power. I wonder what would possess a country surrounded by enemies to let any functioning firearm out of the country. I would think that civilian firearm training and ownership would be highly encouraged there.
Israel has a fully developed economy which doesn’t need to ration firearms. Israel routinely exports many firearms, such as Tavor’s, Jericho’s, etc., to the United States and other countries.
OVERdeveloped. As in past Eurocentric rotten.
I feel like civilian firearms ownership has only been restricted there for reasons of external perception. Meaning, Israel is heavily scrutinized by the rest of the world, the UN, “the LEFT” in particular, etc, and is so often castigated as the aggressor when it is not. In an attempt to appear as peaceable as possible or, at least, not appear aggressive or to avoid incidents that could be portrayed as such, it limits firearms as much as possible. It does this despite the known, obvious danger to its individual citizens in the hopes that it will benefit the country as a whole in the court of public opinion.
…just a thought…
And, as an example of recent anti-Israel portrayal, this video shows it pretty well.
“And, as an example of recent anti-Israel portrayal, this video shows it pretty well.”
Wow.
No bias, none at all…….
I freaking hate when that dude’s on the show, because the best they’ve come up with is a crappy resolution Skype video connection and audio from his cell phone, which is just really difficult to watch and listen to, but every now and then the information is solid.
Plus, the military (at least the US military) usually has a life-time expectancy for their firearms measured in the number bullets fired through it. For example, the M9’s life expectancy is 15,000 rounds. If your Hi-Power reached its life expectancy or came close to it, it wouldn’t be illogical to sell it if possible.
http://www.answers.com/Q/The_life_expectancy_of_the_M9_Service_Pistol_is
“In fact, I wonder what would happen in New York City if Islamic extremists went all stabby on the local populace?”
Governor Cuomo would unilaterally ban knife blocks holding more than seven knives.
Great, now I can’t have guests over for steak.
Because in NY, nobody needs……..whatever NY legislators arbitrarily choose to outlaw……
I’d like to think that New Yorkers would beat the living shit out of some aloha snackbar type that just started stabbing people in NYC.
“Remember the WTC! Yaaaaaaaaa!”
De Blasio would have the defender charged with a hate crime, then require cultural sensitivity training for all NYC residents. The stabber would then be placed on a panel of other similarly misunderstood citizens to form a cultural diversity task force.
Don’t say “if”, say “again” you’ve even had NYPD cops hit with hatchets.
“Remember the WTC! Yaaaaaaaaa!”
You realize, I hope, that you are now describing a hate crime, the victim will be compensated and you will be imprisoned.
How would that be a hate crime?
Using your logic, if an illegal gang banger commits an armed robbery and is shot by the victim who says nothing its legal self defense.
If the victim yells “Remember the Alamo!” while shooting the same illegal gang banger he forfeits his self defense and can be charged with a hate crime?
Bullshit
I was actually being facetious.
Every time I go to NYC it seems like the people there are the best in the country and not paying attention to whatever weird situation is going on 10 feet away on the sidewalk.
I’m guessing most NY’ers wouldn’t even notice(or care) unless it were them being stabbed or the stabbing gets blood on their new kicks.
NY city, land of condition white.
Is this Col. Cooper’s Condition 5, with the magazine completely detached, in a pocket outside the weapon?
Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on her magazine all day for her.
Im ready to tag in when you start getting cross-eyed
Me tooo. I volunteer to make sure it doesn’t fall out of her pocket. I also thought it was gratifying to see an old A1 still providing service.
Israeli soldiers typically do not carry their rifles loaded, in order to prevent accidental discharges. They are trained to load and fire their weapons very quickly.
Also, they typically do not carry pistols with a round in the chamber. They are trained to quickly rack the slide before they fire.
In fact, that form of carry is even called “israeli carry.”
-because the Fairbairn Carry, imposed on the Shanghai Metropolitan Police Force in the 1930’s (who were all issued .45ACP Gov’t Model pistols), required such carry. Fairbairn’s pistol methods (and hand-to-hand ‘dirty’ fighting…..spread during 1938-43 to the very Polish and other Jewish defense-oriented men and women via the British Commando training school. These became standard teaching in the Irgun and similar groups, and then in the IDF.
“Israeli soldiers typically do not carry their rifles loaded, in order to prevent accidental discharges.”
I actually think it has more to do with public perception (closely related to my post above), not making people nervous, not giving “ammunition” to those who would disparage Israel as an aggressor, etc. That plus across-the-back carry (which is also the norm) and often civvie clothing sends a clear message of “this is a last resort, defensive weapon that I don’t plan on actually using.” You really do infer a different message and feeling when you see this while on vacation in Israel as compared to when you see, for instance, Mexican police/military who are fully tac’d out with ostensibly chambered rifles held at the low ready, etc, while you’re on vacation.
Jeremy, G. Gordon Liddy, back when he did his ‘Radio Free D.C.” radio show, told the story of visiting Israel and seeing a young lass (Much like the one pictured) and admiring the way the rifle wore a spot through on the backside of her blue jeans….
Yeah, The G-Man is a perv…
🙂
That’s not just the Isrealis. In my time in the service we routinely carried unchambered until we got to a hot area.
During the Yom Kippor war in 73 I saw rear echelon troops with UZi’s. Bolts were closed and only a few had mags in them.
The truth is, having thousands of people milling around and doing the hundreds of needed jobs in the military with chambered weapons is just asking for AD’s.
Remember, it’s not at all uncommon for soldiers to lay aside their weapons to do needed tasks. Ever see a dozen or more m16s laying in the bed of a deuce and a half? A rats nest of chambered FA’s is just inviting tragedy.
Last summer in Jerusalem , I saw what appeared to be a cop with no magazine in her pistol! I’m not too slow at reloading, but I like to have some rounds in my pistol to get things started.
I don’t precisely what technical level of retention holster she has there, but I’m guessing “Out of my league” is about right.
Those low numbers are in a way a bit misleading. First, IDF on regular or active reserve duty don’t need a permit – the government provides them with the necessary firearm. Second, Arab Israelis (not Palestinians) make up a significant portion of the population, and it’s government policy to keep them unarmed (racist but practical). Additionally, given Israel’s size and georgraphy, there’s really no culture of hunting, so there’s really no Fuds.
Also, for years the main terror threat was suicide bombers on busses and in restaurants. An individual with a pistol isn’t much use against that sort of attack – by the time you recognize the attack, it’s over. These knife attacks are rather different.
@Anon: It was my understanding that there used to be attacks by persons with machine guns and that the terrorists switched to bombs because they were likely to be shot by an Israeli Citizen before they could do much damage with a gun. Is that incorrect ?
Dont tell the american media. Apparently the israelies feel that guns are helpful when attacked by knife wielding maniacs.
Tsk, tsk! What could they be thinking?
” If we look at the statistics in Jerusalem and elsewhere, we see that aside from the police, civilians carrying weapons have foiled terror attacks. ”
That’s impossible! Watts and the other Bloombergians said that never happens!
They would just argue that this is America. We don’t have crazies running around the streets with knives. Oh wait…
Well good for them-the massive disconnect before the followers of the “religion of peace” got all stabby is mind-boggling. I would have thought everyone was armed in the Jewish state-silly me. I betcha’ Benny Netunyahooooo carries a gat…
The current relaxation of Israeli gun laws don’t amount to much. Licenses to carry will merely be extended to former members of the IDF who either served at lest as a Lieutenant (in the case of commissioned officers) for a specified minimum amount of time or at least as a Staff Sergeant (for non-comms) for said specified minimum amount of time. Formerly, you had to have reached the rank of captain or have served in certain special forces units in order to qualify for a carry permit. Only one pistol per applicant. Has to be locked in a safe in your house. No rifles.
@Julius: Doesn’t almost everyone in Israel serve in the military for at least a few years ?
Yes, men and women alike. But naturally, only a minority of those will become officers or NCOs. There are of course exceptions for people who need to carry weapons in the line of duty other than the military (e.g. police officers, Shin Beit agents, guardsmen for private security companies and certain groups of settlers in, shall we say, the more contested areas of Israel). But all in all, gun ownership is rare in Israel (and carry permit holders even fewer). It’s not at all like people just need to show up with an appliction form and start carrying the next day. Everyone whose application is considered in earnest needs to pass different tests pertaining to safe gun handling and shooting skills. And there is also some legal instruction where people are told that they are in serious trouble should their gun get stolen (as long as it’s not taken from a locked safe) or if they erroneously harm anybody else with it.
‘Bout freakin’ time.
“Possessing weapons increases the confidence of residents, who know that in addition to police, there are many people who are not afraid to intervene. If we look at the statistics in Jerusalem and elsewhere, we see that aside from the police, civilians carrying weapons have foiled terror attacks. They will increase the likelihood of fast intervention.”
Could we please send a copy of that statement to every knickers-wetting professor at the University of Texas? and every news media puke who thinks “guns are icky”?
It takes irrational violence to open people’s eyes that they are in danger, and it is up to them to protect themselves. People are learning that here, but at a slower pace. Once they get surrounded by hood-rats and robbed, they get the message.
“In fact, I wonder what would happen in New York City if Islamic extremists went all stabby on the local populace.”
The NYPD would try stopping them and shoot scores of innocent bystanders in the process.
You know things are really bad when the social democrats who run Israel are enabling the people to tool up. The whole point of Israel’s restrictive gun policy is to prevent Arab citizens, who comprise as much as 20% of the population, from arming themselves and massacring Christians and Jews.
Nobody trusts the Arab-Israelis, and nobody should. But Israel extended citizenship to its enemies, and now it’s stuck with them. How stupid can one country be?
Oh, wait. Obama’s trying to do the same thing. Never mind.
Stupid enough to encourage settlers to continue squatting in Palestinian territory unabated.
Palestinian territory? what/where is that? What is a Palestinian? Some artificial nonsense the brits/French dreamed up? There were no “Palestinians” until a bunch of Jews arrived in the Holy Land with the intention of actually making something of the useless wasteland were a few Arabs were squatting doing NOTHING.
“Palestinian territory? what/where is that?”
It’s that little portion of land in the upper left hand corner on this map published in 1720:
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2923/view/1/1/
It’s significantly more complicated than you make out in that post. By keeping it one country, granting citizenship, etc they are able to exercise some degree of control over those mongrels. If they were to grant sovereignty and true statehood to the palestinians, the Palestinians would all get themselves killed by starting a real war within a short time. They are a difficult group, just ask Egypt or Jordan who want nothing to do with them and will not allow them to access.
so THAT is what Israeli Carry looks like…
Interesting that NO legislative action is needed to modify “commonsense” or a God given right. Just the stroke of a marxist bureaucratic pen/phone call.
I’d tap that….
magazine, to ensure that it’s properly seated. What were you thinking, perve?
I wonder what would happen in New York City if Islamic extremists went all stabby on the local populace.
We may all find out in the future.
FRom my experience Israel is in no way a strict gun control nation. There’s a reason why our Jerusalem mayor called for citizens to carry their firearms, because many of us are armed. To say Israel is a “disarmed populace” is remarkably ignorant. The Nazi’s disarmed us before WW2 the last thing Israel will allo is the disarming of our people in the face of the Palestinian threat.
You people actually think that Australia is disarmed. That is utter nonsense. They of course don’t have the rights that they had before but “civilian disarmament” has certainly not occured. What occured was unquestionably wrong but the pro 2A force should have a bit of intellectual integrity when defending these rights instead of stooping to the same type of propoganda as the anti-gun side.
Regardless, Australia has nothing to do with Israel. We have gun rights and our civilians are heavily armed – not just the IDF. Even if that was the case we have conscription. I would appreciate if you refrain from misrepresenting my home country from now on. Certainly don’t take an obscure article from a newspaper as evidence.