Despite the images of soldiers that carry their firearms off duty, Israel is a land where gun control is relatively tight. You must meet a set of rigid criteria to own a firearm, the firearms you may own are limited in number and type, the amount of ammunition you may own is limited to a single 50-round box, and permits must be renewed every three years.

At least, those were the previous conditions. A recent outbreak of Islamic terror attacks has forced the Israeli government to reconsider their position on gun control, and they have now made it much easier for law abiding citizens to acquire firearms for self-defense. They may even include automatic weapons on a case-by-case basis.

In Russia, street crime (and to a much lesser extent, the threat of Islamic terrorism) has become so bad that this oppressive nation is also now allowing citizens to arm themselves.

Russian gun right supporters point to the United States as a model of how things should be.

Pro-gun ownership campaigners however point to US statistics as proof that ownership of firearms could keep them safer.

Some Russians blame corrupt police for the high crime rates.

Opposition politician Alexander Navalny, who supports gun ownership, quipped to the New Republic magazine in 2012 that firearms could help keep Russians safer from the law enforcement officers charged with protecting them.

“We have a huge homicide rate, most of these murders are unsolved, and many police officers are among the criminals,” he told the magazine.

“In America, the argument works that there are professionals to protect us. Here, the police are the main criminals, and they’re armed.”

Others from the pro-gun ownership lobby said that firearms would help keep Russians safer from criminals.

“A person may decide not to commit a crime if he thinks he may be shot or may encounter resistance,” Maria Butina, founder of the Russian Right to Bear Arms organisation, told the magazine.

Russians echoing the sentiments of Wayne LaPeirre will now be able to own pistols, revolvers, and shotguns for self-defense.

In a modern world where crime and terrorism can move at the speed of social media, where humans have unprecedented access to multiple modes of rapid travel, governments are coming to realize that threats can come from anywhere, at any time, and that there simply aren’t enough law enforcement officers or military servicemen to prevent crime or terrorist attacks.

These nations are being forced to concede that the natural human right of the citizenry to be armed for their self-defense must be honored if their cultures are to survive.

For light to defeat darkness, for civilized society to triumph over barbarism, good men must be armed and resolute against the lawless, the violent, and the tyrannical.

Even Vladimir Putin’s Russia seems to realize that.

It’s too bad that the soft and spineless country club socialists of the United States of America do not.