Do Jewish "Gun Control" Advocates
Fuel Anti-Semitism?

by Rabbi Dovid Bendory, Rabbinic Director,
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.
Copyright 2011 JPFO

Anti-Jewish rhetoric is increasingly apparent in America. It surfaced recently at some "Occupy" protest locations. Anti-Jewish vandals defaced a New York City neighborhood just a few days ago.

Opinion polls regarding anti-Jewish sentiment mean very little in this regard. Short of a fanatic, who is going to candidly answer a question from a complete stranger asking if they distrust or hate Jews? No, distrust or hatred of Jews is far more likely to be discussed among friends in closed settings.

Remarkably, in the face of the growing overt anti-Jewish sentiment, Jews remain overwhelmingly supportive of so-called "gun control" policies. While exact statistics are hard to come by, we can logically extrapolate from the 78% of Jews who voted for Obama in 2008 to conclude that the overwhelming majority of American Jews support the Democrat agenda, including citizen disarmament, the so-called "gun control" schemes.

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership has, for more than twenty years, placed "gun control" in quotes. This innocuous phrase is actually a form of deceptive semantic trickery. "Gun control" ALWAYS means gun registration. Gun registration is a means by which governments know which citizens are armed, and with what types of firearms.

In every major genocide of the last one hundred years (including the Holocaust), the victim group was first officially disarmed. Far too often, "gun control" has historically ended in gun confiscation … followed by the hell of genocide.

The equation is simple: A government-gone-bad cannot disarm the citizenry if it does not know who owns the guns.

This nation (along with the rest of the world) is now entering a destabilized economic situation unmatched by anything since the 1930s. Societal upheaval is a prime breeding ground for intolerance and bigotry. Anger and frustration seek easy targets. What group has historically been on the top of the scapegoat list?

From strictly a Jewish point of view, the grotesquely misguided stance of self disarmament among Jews could someday become suicidal for the individual Jew, or G-d forbid, for American Jews as a whole. See: "No Guns For Jews" and "Gun Control: Gateway to Tyranny".

Over and over again, Aaron Zelman, the late founder of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO), would say: "Considering our history, of all the ethic groups on Earth, Jews should be the most dedicated group advocating the right to keep and bear arms."

From a broader perspective, we find many Christians in America who believe in the prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures, revere the Ten Commandments, and have an instinctive affection and respect for the Jewish People. Should the situation arise, many of these devout Christians would step forward as Righteous Gentiles in defense of their "theological brothers."

But try to imagine how such Gentiles feel about overwhelming Jewish support for gun prohibition. Jews arguing for the disarmament of America’s citizenry must baffle (and even anger) our well-meaning Gentile neighbors.

It is bad enough that so many Jews give up their own right to self-defense … but to also force others to do the same, by promoting the disarmament of our law-abiding, patriotic American brethren who would stand and defend us? This is both illogical and self-destructive on the part of the Jews who cry out for an unarmed populace.

As a demographic group, the millions of Christian fundamentalists in America are among the staunchest supporters of Jews and Israel. (I won’t get into the politics of Israel here. It has been JPFO’s longstanding policy to not stray far from issues related closely to the Second Amendment or the Bill of Rights).

Christian fundamentalists -- who are said to "cling to their Bibles and their guns" -- tend to be from more rural areas where firearms have been a way of life for generations. Their Biblical beliefs are rooted deeply in the Old Testament. There is a lot of common ground, in a moral and religious sense, that Jews share with Christian fundamentalists.

And yet, here come the liberal Jews, like Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Charles Schumer, Senator Barbara Boxer and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (among others) pushing the most idiotic and dangerous "gun control" schemes one can imagine.

This is NOT GOOD. The "Jewishness" of "gun control" must be countered. It must be confronted and reversed with immediate urgency.

Pragmatically, Jews may someday need to not only take an armed stance ourselves, but do so supported by our armed non-Jewish brethren. Morally, the Torah teaches that self-defense, even with lethal force when warranted, is a G-d given right and obligation. This is not negotiable. Self defense, and the defense of the innocent, is a COMMAND of G-d A-mighty. See, "No Guns For Jews".

And yet Jewish proponents of "gun control" have gained a disturbing prominence and momentum. Jewish billionaires Michael Bloomberg and George Soros spend unknown sums of money advancing not only domestic "gun control" schemes, but a global "gun control" blueprint as well.

Jews in favor of the right of self defense and the right to keep and bear arms (and our numbers are significant and thankfully growing) must speak out loudly and frequently against the Bloombergs and the Soroses and the Feinsteins and the Schumers. We must match their millions and their political clout with the volume of our voices, with the lessons of history, and with common sense. We must make it clear that "gun control" is NOT KOSHER.

Twenty one years ago, a visionary American Jew, Aaron Zelman, established JPFO to fight this righteous battle. I ask all my Jewish brothers and sisters to join JPFO and utilize the immense depth of JPFO’s pro-freedom resources to educate themselves regarding these issues. Then use JPFO’s "intellectual ammunition" to emphatically confront your gun phobic Jewish friends, family members and neighbors about the severe dangers that come packaged with "gun control". Willfully embraced defenselessness is an affront to our lives, our freedom, and to our G-d.

Blessings of Shalom,


Rabbi Dovid Bendory
Rabbinic Director
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
(http://jpfo.org)

Rabbi Bendory is an NRA Certified Firearms Instructor.

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