My old friend and colleague John Farnam has recently written, “Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, (whom I quoted two days ago) is making big changes at his Ministry’s Firearm Licensing Department, making it vastly easier for Israeli citizens to own and carry guns for personal protection. Citing several recent examples where armed citizens incisively thwarted terrorist attacks, Ben Gvir said, ‘These are excellent examples of the great necessity and importance of our citizens carrying guns, and we have a duty to speed-up the process and dramatically shorten the bureaucracy, for the safety of our children, for the lives of all of us!’ Currently in Israel, who want to own and carry gun(s) still have to ‘show a need’ and be personally interviewed in order to be granted a ‘license’ to do so. However, Army officers and NCOs are not required to return their guns, nor be interviewed, when they are discharged from reserve service, and citizens who have been in continuous possession of a firearm permit for ten years are now allowed to retain it indefinitely. Recently, an enormous surge in gun applications by frightened Israelis has flooded Ben Gvir’s Ministry!”

And, from the recent book “The 2A Papers: A Collection of Essays In Support of the Second Amendment,” Allen L. Matters explains that when he was five years of age he was present when his father was struck and mortally injured by a drunk driver, but he doesn’t demand that responsible people be denied access to either alcoholic beverages or motor vehicles. He quotes John F. Kennedy: “In my own native state of Massachusetts, the battle for American freedom was begun by the thousands of farmers and tradesmen who made up the Minute Men; citizens who were ready to defend their liberty at a moment’s notice. Today we need a nation of minute men; citizens who are not only prepared to take up arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as a basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom. The cause of liberty, the cause of America, cannot succeed with any lesser effort.”

If you’re interested in an autographed copy of “The 2A Papers,” reach out to the author at allenlmatter@yahoo.com .

23 COMMENTS

  1. Great. Now if only they would allow a Texican (who has had a CHL/LTC license for over 20 years) visit Israel with his protection piece.. after all tourist are terrorist targets in Israel and thus a ‘need’!

    And being Catholic and a Krav Magaist guy I do have reasons to go visit!

  2. That’s a beautiful group, Mas.

    John Farnam’s Quips are excellent.

    I recently read Benjamin Netanyahu’s excellent book, “BiBi: My Story.” He was a Special Forces soldier. I wish Israel, America and the whole world had more enlightened politicians like Bibi.

    • His elder brother led the Entebbe raid and was killed there as the only fatality in the rescuing force. Israeli officers lead from the front.

    • Read any of his speeches and he comes across as far-right by modern standards. By contrast, Richard Nixon was the moderate.

      Part of that was JFK’s speechwriters putting down what they thought Americans of 1960 wanted to hear, vs. Nixon being limited to what he could say in public due to his position as incumbent Vice President, where his words might be interpreted as official American policy.

  4. I’ve never been one of those people who embraced the whole citizen militia thing. In fact, I’ve never been real comfortable with the idea that we started a revolution over taxation without representation. It seemed a bit of an overreaction, and I always felt that there might have been a less violent way to address the issue.

    So why do I believe that the second amendment is sacrosanct?

    I’m an Armenian American. Back in the 1500s, the Ottoman Turks invaded Armenia, and took over the country. Initially, their rule was tolerable, and the Armenians were able to create a decent life for themselves under Turkish rule. Early on however, the Turks told the Armenians that they had no need for weapons, and they disarmed their subjects. The Turks told my relatives that the government would protect them. Harsh penalties were put in place for any Armenian caught possessing weapons.

    That’s why in the late 1800s, and early 1900s, the Turks were able to viciously slaughter 1.7 million Armenian men, women and children. They sent tens of thousands more fleeing for their lives to other countries. We’re not talking a kind massacre here – being marched out of town, shot in the back of the head, with mass burial.

    We’re talking gang raping wifes in front of husbands and children, then chopping off heads. We’re talking crucifying grandparents to barn doors, telling the family that if they fed or gave them water, the family would be slaughtered. They always returned to slaughter the family anyway. They bayonetted babies by snatching them from the arms of their mothers, tossing them in the air, and skewering them on the way down. They took the pretty Armenian girls (like my grandmother), and sold them as sex slaves to Ottoman senior officials. They beat tens of thousands with cart axles, axe handles, shovels, and clubs. They marched the rest into the desert with no food and water.

    This is not a one-off occurrence. Stalin pulled the same thing off in Russia, murdering 27 million. Mao murdered 47 million. Pol Pot in Cambodia murdered a million or two. The Tutsis in Rwanda murdered 800,000 in 100 days. The same thing happened to the American Indians, the Syrians, and countless others. In every single case, the monsters disarmed the innocent before committing mass murder because disarmed subjects can’t shoot back.

    The second amendment does not exist to enable gun lovers to amass a collection, to let hunters put a side of venison in the freezer, or to allow target shooters to plink at tin cans. It exists for one solitary reason. When the next incarnation of the Gestapo is created by the next psychopathic ruler, and they show up at your door to load you on the cattle cars to the concentration camps, the gas chambers and the crematoria, the gun gives you the ability to say “not today”. When the next version of the Turkish butcher squad (that’s what the Turkish leaders called them) knock on your door, to enslave your daughter, rape your wife, and slaughter everyone else, the gun gives you the ability to exact a cost from that squad that might dissuade them from their evil plans.

    The Jews have a phrase that they like to utter.

    “Never again.”

    Those words mean nothing without the tools to back them up. It’s why any suggestion of compromise, common sense legislation, or gun safety actions that infringe upon the right to keep and bear arms is completely unacceptable.

    We all should remind ourselves of “never again”, because so many seem to have forgotten already.

    • quote: “I’ve never been real comfortable with the idea that we started a revolution over taxation without representation.”

      I have studied this period of time quite deeply for the past couple of decades. Rest assured “taxation without representation” was NOT the reason our forbears took up arms against the King’s men. Nope. Not at all.

      My suggestion to you is to get a copy of the US Constitution, turn past the first few Articles and come toward the back of the book where you will find the ten “Articles of ammendment”. Read each one of the first ten carefully, and as you ponder each understand that that one is there, written precisely the way it is, BECAUSE the Brits had sorely abused the Colonials o precisely THAT issue. Start with “Congress shall make no law establishing a religion or preventing the free exercise thereof”. King George’s minions this side the Puddle were very much attempting to force the Colonials to be part of the King’s particular religious sect.. the one started when his predecessor Henry Eighth told the pope of Rome to take a hike, I WILL divorce my wife and marry another and further you no longer rule the church in England,I do. And everyone in the land WILL siupport it no matter their preference or other convictions. Continue on through each of the ten Articles of Ammendment knowing each stated and enumerated right was there to preclude the possibility of any American ever again being forced to forgo God given rights, or basic civil liberties.You will see that the “taxation” issue is not even mentioned amongst the rights enumerated within those ten Articles of Ammendment.

      I will suggest another very excellent resource, a book written by David Hackett Fischer, Paul Revere’s Ride. He is an historian and has thoroughly researched that era and written a very readable book, yet factually accurate and historically correct. He lays out the period leading up to the conflict at Lexington and Concord that “sparked” the War for Independence from Britain. Read this and you will not only become well versed on the era but the issues that led to that conflict. i I have found copies in eBay for well under ten bucks delivered. A bargain at twice or thrice the price.

      • 85 cents. Plus 4.50 shipping and tax. Thanks for the book reference.

        I do understand that it was more than taxation, but that’s what people use to justify the revolution. I just don’t want people thinking I support those crazy patriot groups. Like in self defense, arms are the absolute last resort, but a necessary one to have.

    • Echoing Tionico’s comment: After the 10 Amendments in the Bill of Rights, I suggest reading the Declaration of Independence; it contains an itemized list of exactly why the colonists sought to leave English rule. There is much more in there than taxation.

      Also, read the full Constitution and focus on Article I, Section 8 (the enumerated powers of Congress), Section 9 (powers denied Congress), and Section 10 (powers denied States). As you work through Section 8, think of what it doesn’t cover.

      Envision why the Founders might have wanted to limit the federal ruling body to Section 8’s specific powers and nothing more, and explicitly deny Congress and the States those in Sections 9 & 10, respectively.

      It’s likely because King George III usurped much more power over the daily lives of the colonists than he was entitled to, and the Founders desired a government that would never again encroach on its citizens’ lives to that extent.

      The Founders were smart and thorough men. Nothing in the Declaration and Constitution is there by accident.

    • Get a copy of Allen Matter’s book: “The 2A Papers.” After you read it, you’ll embrace the idea of the “citizen militia thing.”

    • Christine,

      Thanks for your excellent post. Just want to add an observation that what you wrote, small arms defend innocent people, works on the macro level, too.

      Muammar Gaddafi of Libya had nukes. He gave them up. Libya was invaded and Muammar was killed.

      Ukraine had nukes. They gave them up. Ukraine was invaded, and many Ukrainians have been killed.

      Lesson: Don’t give up your weapons, whether they are small or large. I think it is safe to predict that no nation will ever again give up nukes, once they get them.

    • Note the original amendments were the work of the anti-Federalists, who opposed the new Constitution at almost every turn. The ink was barely dry on the Articles of Confederation before the new ruling class wanted more power, particularly more power to levy taxes, and the original drafts of the Constitution were a naked power grab. The anti-Federalists opposed them for years, line by line, item by item. The Federalists struck a deal; they’d grant the anti-Federalists some amendments if they’d back off and agree to the new Constitution and forming a new Federal government.

      You’ve probably heard of or read “The Federalist Papers.” There were anti-Federalist papers too, also collected into a convenient book. In them, the anti-Federalists issued many warnings about the drafts of the document the Founders were drawing up, most of which eventually were shown to be valid.

      TL;DR: The entire Bill of Rights was the work of the anti-Federalists; who opposed the new Constitution.

  5. “…making it vastly easier for Israeli citizens to own and carry guns for personal protection”

    It shouldn’t have been so difficult in the first place.

  6. Good gracious – common sense is breaking out!! and by the way, you have completely destroyed that target. They don’t grow on trees you know.

  7. A good start, Israel. But it still sounds like the kind of “may issue” practices which have persisted here are also going on there. So, let’s hope this will move that country toward “shall issue” and also the removal of that 50 round ammo possession limit (WTH??) for instance. On a side note, a Jewish friend of mine in the Denver area who knows a thing or two favors the .357 SIG round, which made me wonder what calibers the good folks in Israel and elsewhere in that region favor for self protection. The Egyptian police have used this cartridge as well. Maybe an article on the subject, Mas?

    • they have a fifty round possession limit? Hooboy.Glad I don’t live there!! Happened accross a friend over the weekend and he mentioned he has switched calibers for his main rifle and needs to find a new home for the fodder upon which his now-gone piece used to forage. I bought his then-orphaned now much appreciated stock.. about nine times what the government of Israel would “allow” me to have. And at the price he had paid for it perhaps ten years ago. Break my heart win. Sort of a free-store hodge podge but all good stuff, AND it fits some of my favourite rifles.

      • Farnam recommended that you have 4000 rounds minimum for every caliber that you own. .22 doesn’t count under this suggestion.

        That means you have 4000 rounds set aside before you acquire any to shoot.

        I’m not there yet, but I do have a law enforcement mentor who has upwards of 750,000 rounds stockpiled.

    • Israel was founded by folks from the original Soviet sphere. As a result, most leaned toward socialism and communism. It’s one of the reasons why so many countries were hesitant about taking them in when Hitler offered to let them leave.

      That and a whopping ton if antisemitism.

      Socialists and communists don’t like armed citizenry.

  8. The desire of the majority of middle America’s citizens to do just that, is why the left is so adamant about disarming us.
    I don’t remember who said or their exact wording, but to paraphrase their statement:
    [[[ “we’ve been armed for over 200 years with little issue, one must wonder, what it is they’re preparing to do to us that they fear we would shoot them for, that requires they disarm us now.” ]]]

    • Hmmm Perhaps General Thomas W Gage, Commanding General AND governor over all the Colonies under king George Three in the late eighteenth century, might be able to enlighten us on this matter……… his demand that the Colonials disarm is the one order they would not abide……. and the very trigger that launched the War. The one HE lost. He SO underestimated his level of power in Massachussetts Colony. That rag tag rabble he so despised had the best of his crack troops on 19th April when Gage launched his disarmement raid against Lexongtn then on to Concord. He had to admit to his Boss George Three that he had very much underestimated those “stupid farmers with their squirrel guns”. He was totally shocked to find his puny army confronted by about 14,000 armed and trained colonual militiamen in response to his highly secret “surprise” powder raid. OOOOpppssss Lost near half his officers and a goodly portion of his foot……..

  9. I think this has far less to do with genuine concern for the welfare of Israeli citizens and much more to do with furthering the “final solution” agenda Israel has always had in store for Palestinians (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ethnic_Cleansing_of_Palestine) or anyone else who stands in the way of their expansionist ambitions (Israel is virtually the only country proud of committing numerous assassinations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_and_Kill_First). Jewish “settlers” are basically an extension of the IDF and it makes sense to arm them if you want to permanently occupy/oppress a population. I am confident in asserting that exactly ZERO weapons permits will ever be issued under Ben Gvir’s direction to non-Jewish Israeli citizens much less “non-citizens” living in the functionally apartheid state of modern Israel. This raises an important question for us 2nd Amendment supporters: do these people not have a right to personal self defense, too? Guns for personal defense for me (like-minded Jews), but not for thee (everyone else) can summarize succinctly Mr. Ben Gvir’s policy.

    Of all people I’d think a Syrian-American like Mr. Ayoob would understand this. To get a sense of the kind of unsavory, racist individual Ben Gvir is, consider that he kept a portrait of Baruch Goldstein (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Goldstein) in his living room (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itamar_Ben-Gvir). This is like someone having a portrait of Adolf Hilter in their living room! The “Jewish Power” party he leads espouses an openly racist and extreme version of Talmudic Judaism know as Khanism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahanism)!

  10. I second Mas’ recommendation to read Allen Matter’s book “The 2A Papers”.
    Allen Matter methodically reviews the reasons that the Second Amendment was given its position of prominence in the Bill of Rights and its importance to securing those rights. All 2A supporters should be conversant in Matter’s arguments and, better still, will get potentially persuadable fence-sitters and people who support various ideas of the gun-control crowd to read this easily-digestible book, so that they understand the enormous mistake they make by attempting to infringe the rights of honest gun owners.

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