Following the reform led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in the Firearms Division, a reform that has led to the release of bottlenecks and the granting of 12,000 firearm licenses, the minister agreed with the Director General of the Ministry, Attorney Shlomo Ben Eliyahu to cut even further the waiting time for weapons licenses.
According to the new agreement, additional groups will be exempted from personal interviews at the firearms bureaus, and the right to carry a weapon will be issued with only approval by the Israel Police and the Health Ministry. Individuals qualified to receive the exemption are discharged combat soldiers within the first five years after their service, active reservists, police officers, and firefighters.
Minister Ben Gvir stated: “We see again and again that in many terrorist incidents, there is a great significance to the personal weapons that are in the vicinity, and we will do everything we can to loosen the traffic jam and allow everyone who passes the tests to get a weapon permit.”
The Minister’s staff is currently working on making the tests easier, and after their work is done, the new tests will be submitted for approval by the Knesset National Security Committee chaired by MK Zvika Fogel (Otzma Yehudit).
Here’s the thing: on November 14, 2022, a combat soldier on furlough in Ra’anana shot and killed a mentally handicapped man at the town’s bus parking lot because the man was waving a knife and looked threatening. The soldier yelled at the man to drop his knife, but he did not respond and continued to advance. At that point, instead of trying to disable the man with a shot to the leg, the soldier drilled the man with a string of bullets and killed him on the spot. He later told police he was convinced the man was a terrorist. He wasn’t. He was a crazy guy from Pardes Chana. A bystander was wounded by a ricocheting bullet.
All I’m saying is that it takes training to prepare civilians to confront seemingly dangerous individuals without hurting themselves or others. The idea that the National Security Minister is eliminating the personal interview by an experienced professional, which is the most elementary tool for assessment of how qualified a person may be to start firing in the streets, is frightening.
I must confess that, having served in the IDF and done combat basic training (Golani) that included taking apart, cleaning, and firing guns, as soon as I received the press release from Otzma Yehudit about the National Security Minister making it easier to get a gun license in Israel, I couldn’t stop humming the song that propelled singer Yusuf Islam, who was then still known as Cat Stevens: “I’m Gonna Get Me a Gun.”
“I’m gonna get me a gun / I’m gonna get me a gun / And all those people who put me down / You better get ready to run / ‘Cause I’m gonna get me a gun.”
I’m saying this is a dangerous decision that should be reconsidered.
