Why Jews Should Be Armed and Trained
By Brock Friedman. April 11, 2025
I have often had conversations regarding guns with other Jews that end up dwelling too much on refuting their peculiar belief in the value of defenselessness, and too little on why they should be armed and trained. They reflexively parrot media talking points, or denigrate themselves as likely incapable of self-defense.
This was particularly true before Oct. 7. When I as a board member of a local synagogue tried broaching the subject in regards to security, Zoom was unkind in showing me many bewildered faces all at once searching my image for a tin foil yarmulke. There was a chorus of angry voices shouting at me about how there is no need and its not allowed and its so unlikely to happen here, and the police are our friends.
Post Oct. 7 though, we can see the truth of things. 2024 was the year that antisemitic violence became fashionable again. Sad as that is, we need to utilize it. The usual narrative of anti-gun Jews has fallen apart. Our people are frightened, and we have a duty to rally them to their own self-defense during this period of stark clarity. If ever there was a time to sound the shofar, this is it.
Therefore, when you find yourself speaking to other Jews about being armed, stress these points:
- We Jews have the unequivocal right to exist.
- We have the legal right to defend our lives and those of our families.
- We have a moral, ethical and religious obligation to protect the innocent.
- We can clearly see with our own eyes the ranks of antisemites swelling and their madness spreading. It is no longer a matter of if, but when.
- Disaster will inevitably result from the folly of believing one will not come under threat merely because of where they live, or who they vote for.
- Past and contemporary history show us that blind faith in the power and will of government to guard us against harm is horribly misguided.
As a Jew facing this onrushing tidal wave of antisemitism, I choose to stand and fight if the need arises. Me myself. Not the hatemongers. Not the politicians. Not the media. I choose not to run or to hide. I choose to be the steel that makes NEVER AGAIN mean something. I will not cede it to others. I with my own eyes can see the evil that seeks to consume everything I love and hold dear and I will not bow before it or beg or plead for mercy. I do not seek confrontation and my desire is always for peace, but if I should find myself or others targeted for deadly violence, I will not hesitate to fight back to end the threat.
Those who hate us merely for existing have a narrative they recruit with that we are cowards. They want us to be defenseless to demonstrate the truth of their lie. One without the right or the means or the will to fight back is essentially a slave and they wish to be our masters where they may feel unhindered in administering any and all cruelties and indignities.
They want us to retreat mentally to recrossing the Red Sea and begging Pharoah for forgiveness.
They want to break us and then they want to kill us.
Why should Jews be armed and trained? Because it is our right and our choice to do so, and because no one can take that from us unless we allow them to. Because our heritage is survival. Because if we proclaim Never Again while demanding or expecting or hoping someone else will give it meaning, then we are fools.
I have no intention of being a fool. I reject the model of Jewish security that is confined at best to my synagogue where one writes a grant to get a check to pay a non-Jew to take a bullet for me as I do nothing in my own self-defense and thus play directly into the narrative of Jew haters. I reject those Jewish organizations that should understand good and well this folly and yet persist in perpetuating it, even to the point of criticizing and shaming those Jews who chose to lawfully arm themselves. I likewise reject the model of Jewish security that is dependent exclusively on hoping for the quick response of the police as bullets, blunt objects and sharp things all cause harm to the innocent faster than a police car can drive.
Why should Jews be armed and trained? Because if we value our existence, it is our own responsibility to guard it. If you willingly and passively allow something to be destroyed by others then it must not have had real value to you to begin with. Our lives are ours to protect and WE must do so. That is the cost of asserting our right to exist and it is what you as a Jew who believes in the 2nd Amendment must impress upon our kinfolk.
