In Israel, there's no 'right to bear arms' - and it works

Arutz Sheva ^ | 19/6/16 | Ron Kampeas

[Eleutheria5]

(JTA) Dirty, hot and exhausted Israeli soldiers waiting for their bus home from the army base tend, understandably, to be in a hurry to get on board.

But when I was living in Israel during the first intifada, soldiers didn’t jostle to be first in line. Rather, the most coveted position was second.

That’s because the bus driver had the right – under rules issued by the army and made clear to each armed soldier before she or he left the base – to order any soldier to sit in the front seat and remain alert. And the first one to get on board was the obvious choice.

If you’d just finished three weeks of training with rare interruptions for sleep and were looking forward to a snooze on the long trip home, this was definitely a downer. But it was necessitated by the rash of Palestinian terrorist attacks on bus drivers at the time.

One of the first things visitors to Israel notice is the ubiquity of young people with automatic weapons. Yet Israel suffers the tiniest fraction of the mass killings the United States does. Daniel Gordis, writing last year in a Bloomberg column, reported that Americans are 33 times more likely to kill each other with guns than Israelis. How is that possible?

The answer is couched in that front seat the Egged bus driver kept empty for a soldier.

It may not be immediately obvious, but the Israelis you see armed on the beach or at the cafe are just as subject to the army hierarchy and its regulations as they would be if they were on the front line or a base.

.....

The careful use of guns in Israel is about being answerable to a hierarchy....

.....

[Jack Hydrazine]

Did the author conveniently forget full-auto Switzerland?

[piasa]

Liberals are masters of omission.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Did the author conveniently forget full-auto Switzerland?"

Not "conveniently". Journalists are some of the most badly educated people on the planet, these days including spelling and grammar.....the tools of their supposed "expertise".

The poor schmuck probably really didn't know.

[ctdonath2]

Maybe not a recognized right, but is a compulsory duty.

Would the Left be content with mandatory training & carry? It would solve all their complaints.

[trebb]

They didn’t arise as we did with our Constitution. Yet, they seem to have plenty of citizens, even teachers, carrying weapons - if our 2nd Amendment wasn’t there, our own rulers would have disarmed us 50 years or more ago.....

[Louis Foxwell]

Assault chocolate pudding is the worse. Must be treated as a global threat.

http://www.theonion.com/article/pudding-factory-disaster-brings-slow-creamy-death--621

[Hardastarboard]

There’s a right to bear arms on every square inch of the planet.

There's the winner quote. Given that a documented 300 million people have been murdered by governments, self defense from individual predators is actually only part of the right to self defense. Governments are more deadly than any armed gang or Mafioso. And they can kill you and get away with it.

[TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed]

Stupid is as stupid does...

[Carry me back]

Didn’t read it. But Israel is a totally different country. A lot of things work there, that don’t here. Because we have corrupt politicians and a lot of people filled with hate towards other people. The liberal’s towards everyone. Israel is a nation that also , I guess has a much higher IQ average among the people.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

Absolutely!
And well stated!

[dila813]

well, either this story is right or the other story is right

remember all the stabbing attacks, only then did they start issuing private firearms, that was the story

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/15/middleeast/israel-palestinian-tensions/

Israeli official: Legally armed civilians have ‘part to play’ in wake of violence

[Caipirabob]

We're not Israel. Israel is a outpost of sanity beset by satan's butt licking foes on all sides. They are in a constant state of siege and their government reflects a survivalist mentality amongst a large family unit. Given their mutual values culture, it works.

America is a entirely different situation, although I think we've now become an occupied nation, very similar to pre-1776.

[ml/nj]

Yes, and if we had Israel's demographics, we'd have a lower crime rate, too.

I wonder what you know of Israel's demographics. Have you been there? One sixth of the population is Arab and at least some of these Arabs have been propagandized into hatred of their Jewish neighbors. The Jews, the smart ones anyway, are aware.

And among the Jews, there is plenty of animosity between the secular and the Haredi communities.

But there are enough level headed people walking around with guns to keep things quiet.

ML/NJ

[Engedi]

Israel doesn’t have the drug problem we have o US; the Mexican Gangs, White Gangs, Chinese Ganges, Black Gangs,etc.

They protect their borders; unlike our country who tie the hands of our border agents, cartels threaten and bribe our agents, etc.

[libertylover]

Americans are 33 times more likely to kill each other with guns than Israelis. How is that possible?

Because Israelis don't live in the south side of Chicago?

[Lisbon1940]

Egged is the Israeli national bus system, pronounced EGG-Id.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I read an article on Israeli gun laws way back in 1968 or 1969 after Bobby Kennedy was murdered. Same thing was said.

[farming pharmer]

The author is mistaken. There’s a right to bear arms on every square inch of the planet.

Some nations choose to recognize that right, and some don’t.

That's absolutely correct. Some people don't recognize that right, they deserve everything that's coming to them when they force that belief on others.

[fella]

Lots of warm and fuzzy pics on the net, here's one;

[Georgia Girl 2]

The answer is they have a homogeneous society. We don’t.