In response to the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27 that resulted in the deaths of 11 people — the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history — hundreds of Jewish people have enrolled in firearms training courses.
France24.com, in a November 5 report, noted that Cherev Gidon Israeli Tactical Training Academy, which holds classes in Pennsylvania and Arizona, has received hundreds of requests to enroll in its courses in the days following the shooting.
“There is no question that Jews are under threat in America. Would you say to soldiers on the front line, ‘just lay down your guns and let the enemy kill you?’ No. So Jews need to be armed,” the report quoted Yonatan Stern, the founder of firearms training academy.
Stern, who is a former officer of the Israel Defense Forces, established the academy six years ago, when he predicted that there would be attacks on the Jewish community in the United States.
Stern said he has been getting calls from police departments all over the country congratulating him, because getting people armed makes their job easier.
Following the shootings, President Trump said, “This is a case where if they had an armed guard inside, they may have been able to stop him immediately. Maybe there would have been nobody killed, except for him maybe.”
While the steps advocated by Stern in the wake of the Pittsburgh shooting make perfect sense, they should not be unique to Jewish religious congregations. There have been several mass shootings at Christian churches in recent years. One of the most tragic of these was at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, 2015, during which nine worshipers were killed.
Twenty-six people were killed in another shooting attack at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on November 5, 2017.
Similar incidents have occurred at other churches, schools, and public buildings. In every case, the victims were unarmed. Yet, instead of advocating ways for helpless victims to defend themselves, each of these tragic incidents were followed by calls from the Left for more gun control.
A better (and constitutional) preventative measure to save lives in future incidents of this type would be for citizens of all faiths to have the means to defend themselves and others, as the Second Amendment guarantees.
Image: Screenshot of an ad for the Cherev Gidon Israeli Tactical Training Academy
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