In Israel, as attacks spiral, gun sales soar

The Boston Globe ^ | Page A1, 4/6/2002 | Anthony Shadid

[jonascord]

TEL AVIV - Near a sign declaring "Winchester, what America shoots," Gil Furman loaded shining rounds into a Colt .45, preparing to fire his newly refurbished pistol at targets whose silhouettes were black on white but whose real identity was obvious to anyone.

[jonascord]

Where do I begin? Every failed argument of the gun grabbers is raised, and just as promptly shot down. It is amusing, however, that in Israel, leftists are actually called "Leftists." Not "progressives," or "liberals," or "democrats," or "clintons"...

[steamroller]

At least those leftists can kill you with something besides their bad breath.:)

[Maedhros]

"If the state is relinquishing its monopoly by giving arms to the citizens, it becomes less of a state."

That's the entire idea: reduce state tyranny.

[archy]

Info on the BUL company and their products- and their more recent training facility- *here.* They're okay if you like a plastic-framed .45, but I'll stick with a US GI M1911. The BUL M5 Commander does look to have serious possibilities for concealed carry use though, and that's clearly the direction many Israelis are now heading.

[Ancesthntr]

Guns in Israel still pale before the formidable numbers in the United States. Only 265,000 Israelis out of a population of more than 6 million carry weapons

Let's see, how stupid is this statement? First of all, this sentence compares apples and oranges - the number of guns in America vs. the number of carry permits in Israel. Second, the Jewish population is about 4.8 million - I rather doubt that many Arab citizens of Israel have been granted carry licenses. With approximately 285 million people in this country, that's a ratio of 59.375:1. Multiply this ration by 265,000 Israeli carry permits, and you'd have 15,734,375 carry permits in the US. I believe that there are probably on the order of 10% that many; otherwise, the gun grabbers would have all died from apoplexy. As for the number of guns owned by Jewish Israelis - having been there and talked to quite a number of people, I can promise you that there are far in excess of 1 million firearms. Many are, as here, unknown to the government. Further, there are lots of fully automatic war trophies, from the 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982 wars, not to mention many skirmishes and small battles that have taken place over the years.

"If the state is relinquishing its monopoly by giving arms to the citizens, it becomes less of a state," said Yaron Ezrahi, a political science professor at Hebrew University. "The first function of government is to defend the security of the citizens. When it cannot do that, the contract between the citizens and the government is broken."

Stupid leftist claptrap, just like what we see here. In a free society, you don't want the police (and especially the army) to protect you everywhere. To have that capability, the state would by definition have to be a police state. The contract between the citizens and government is broken when that occurs, or when the state prohibits the citizens from protecting themselves. Obviously, someone there agrees with me:

"This is the realization that if we don't protect ourselves, nobody will," said Knesset member Eliezer Zandberg. "There is a loss of trust in the government actions to protect the citizens. So we will act appropriately."

The one good thing about all of the terrorism is that it has woken up a lot of fence-sitters, both here and in Israel. Even the lefties are beginning to exhibit signs of mental consciousness, and (in a very few cases) logical reasoning.

[Dark Wing]

ping

[backhoe]

FYI--

Won’t looser licensing restrictions make it easier for criminals to get weapons? "Every criminal who wants a weapon already has one," said another retired Israeli police officer in a radio interview. End of argument. In two sentences, the most cherished dogmas of anti-gun groups such as the Brady Campaign and Gun Industry Watch have been dismissed.
Israel is Arming Its Civilians - Why Aren't We?

[Atlas Sneezed]

Notice how being armed is framed in terms of reflecting "anxiety", and not strength or improved safety.

[Blood of Tyrants]

"If the state is relinquishing its monopoly by giving arms to the citizens, it becomes less of a state,"

Spoken like a true totalitarian.