[zeestephen]

Thanks - but I don’t see a specific reference about the right to carry or conceal.

Several months ago, a Palestinian started shooting people on a bus.

The bus driver was unarmed, which was a real shock to me.

[SJackson]

I think that's a given. If you can own a handgun, only one, that you can carry it an any fashion, including concealed, is a given. Common sense if you think about it. A couple ways they have liberalized the law, I believe they've loosened the rank requirements post service. And I believe someone newly acquiring Israeli citizenship can qualify after a residence period, three years I think. Naturally they keep a database of all this.

An unarmed bus driver was likely unarmed by personal choice.

[SJackson]

The background of this was Israel’s adoption of most British laws upon independence, as well as some of the Brit’s Turkish predecessors. Unauthorized firearms carried a death sentence under the Brits, and I don’t think many were authorized other than to government employees. So it was a matter of liberalizing zero tolerance laws, a long process. And while from 1948 Israelis with firearms were common due to the necessity of survival. Due to mandatory military service, I suspect a far higher percentage of Israel’s population is comfortable with and has fired a firearm than the US. But a culture of private ownership can’t develop under circumstances where private ownership is severely restricted.