American Jews Panic-Buying Firearms, Reversing Historically Left-Leaning Anti-Gun Stance
American Jews have suddenly gained a newfound appreciation for our Second Amendment and are buying guns en masse on the tail of the Hamas terror campaign in Southern Israel and the subsequent rise in antisemitism in the United States.
As Florida resident and Orthodox Jew Henya Chein told NBC News on Oct. 22, she has bought a gun and is taking lessons on its use “because Jewish people are not safe anywhere now.”
Chein is hardly alone. According to multiple news reports, Jews are flocking to gun stores to purchase their very first gun because they feel under threat everywhere they go, even here in the U.S.A. And many are finally seeing the light on why the Second Amendment is one of America’s most important founding rights.
In fact, the anti-gun mentality is even changing among Jews in Israel.
NBC noted that gun dealers, security companies and firearms trainers are seeing a huge influx of new Jewish buyers all across the U.S.
“We’ve definitely seen a tremendous increase in religious Jewish people, Orthodox people, purchasing firearms,” said Jewish businessman David Kowalsky, who owns a gun shop in Hollywood, Florida. “I’ve seen a surge in interest in individual training as well as group training.
“These are mothers, teachers, the majority of them are mostly people who have never interacted with firearms or thought about owning them,” Kowalsky added. “There’s a safety concern. I think people are nervous about what’s going on and what can happen.”
Gun sellers are seeing new Jewish customers from across the spectrum. Men, women, Orthodox and secular alike.
According to one gun store owner in Hollywood, Florida, even Orthodox Jews have been buying record numbers of firearms, due to fears that they may be attacked inside of the United States.https://t.co/oChVEWC3RF
— DC, Last Legion, Infinity Redux (@DerektheCleric) October 23, 2023
New York Democratic political strategist and rabbi Hank Sheinkopf had what is becoming a common realization: that the U.S. being the “one place in the world where Jews are safe — is coming to an end.”
There are many other reports of this growing trend, too. CNN, for instance, spoke to a Jewish woman in California identified only as Dani — the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors — who said she is taking responsibility for her own safety in these harsh times.
“Now more than ever with the rise in antisemitism, I feel we have a responsibility as Jews to speak up and speak out, and also know how to protect ourselves because the reality is people don’t seem to want us around, and it’s hard,” she said.
CNN added that this new attitude is a sea change from how most Jews felt over five years ago. At that time, 70 percent said America’s Second Amendment rights were not that important and gun control was far more important.
This trend did not start on Oct. 7, when Hamas launched its bloody, inhuman raid on Southern Israel. For many Jews, it started in 2018, when a Pittsburgh synagogue was attacked, leaving 11 dead.
But it appears that the rise of hate against Jews is changing a lot of minds on the efficacy of the Second Amendment.
“I think a lot of people were hoping that we were past that – I know I definitely was – but I think current events have shown us that may be coming, and that there is that type of hate in the world,” a Jewish man named Daniel told CNN. “It’s very scary.”
That hate has caused a huge uptick in Jews seeking training and gun ownership, according to Tzvi Waldman, the founder of the New York State Jewish Gun Club. The flood of requests for training has caused him to add staff to his operation.
“I’m getting extra help, to help answer the phone, to reply to the emails and to make sure that everyone is serviced,” Waldman said.
Georgia gun shop owners are also seeing the trend among first-time Jewish buyers and gun owners, according to WAGA-TV Atlanta. And The (U.K.) Telegraph jumped into the reporting on this and noted that gun stores in Texas are also seeing Jews flock to their businesses.
This is good news for Jews, good news for Americans and good news for our Second Amendment. The more people who finally come to realize that owning a firearm is not just a right, but a necessity, the harder it will be for Democrats to scuttle our rights.
The opposition to gun control has been growing because more and more Americans from constituencies that never embraced their 2A rights before are coming to appreciate their right to protect themselves.
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