'I'm Interested in Jewish Survival': Scholar Urges Jews to Embrace Armed Self-Defense

Self-defense is a human right, and the right to keep and bear arms is one that belongs to we the people regardless of our faith, color, and creed. A raging lefty has the same right to own an AR-15 as a rock-ribbed conservative, a Catholic has the same right to carry a handgun as a Protestant, and no matter if you identify as a man, woman, or wolfkin, you've got the right to protect yourself and your loved ones with a firearm. 

We've seen the growing diversity of gun owners in the United States over the past couple of decades, and I'm pleased that trend appears to be continuing. And just as we talk about an individual right to keep and bear arms, the decision to become a gun owner is an individual one as well. 

It's also one that Dr. Adam Fuller, the Clayman Professor of Jewish Studies and Associate Professor of Political Science at Youngstown State University and author of The Armed Jew: The Case for Jewish Gun Ownership, hopes that others of the Jewish faith will make. 

Fuller recently spoke to honors students at Yeshiva University in New York about his book, as well as why he decided to start exercising his Second Amendment rights in recent years. 

Though he had advocated for Jewish gun ownership in print for years, he was not a gun owner himself until October 7, when students in his classroom defended Hamas’s actions and campus groups announced days of “resistance.” Feeling unsafe, Dr. Fuller asked a former student, a competitive pistol shooter, to help him buy a firearm and learn to use it. He eventually earned a concealed carry license. Noting that “the amount of scholarship done on...Jewish survival is pretty small,” especially when compared to, for example, the literature on Jewish cemeteries, Dr. Fuller decided to write the book himself. As he said, “I’m not interested in dead Jews. I’m interested in Jewish survival.”

In Fuller's view, Jews are often stereotyped as weak or timid, even by Jewish authors. He argues that accepting and embracing those stereotypes, even subconsciously, "will only endanger" American Jews. 

He then described a paradox. American Jews are often wary of guns, even though Israel, in his words, has embraced “the entire wish list of the American gun control lobby.” He suggested that Israelis view arms as a collective, military right rather than an individual one, which is why a gun license in Israel generally requires prior infantry service. 

That's an interesting perspective. I've heard Israel described as an armed society for years now, but the truth is that it has a ton of gun control restrictions. Yes, active duty military are often armed while out in public, but civilian gun ownership is treated as a privilege granted through government licensing, and applicants generally must demonstrate that they meet specific eligibility criteria.

The process of getting a personal firearms license is even more restrictive than states like California, New York, or Massachusetts. And as a 2025 study explained, the restrictions don't stop once a license has been granted. 

A civilian handgun license authorizes ownership of one registered handgun only. The license is tied to the weapon itself and cannot exist independently. Unlike, motor vehicle licensing for example, a handgun license requires one to actually own a handgun. Renewal is mandatory every three years, and license holders must complete a refresher training course approximately every 18 months. Ammunition is regulated as tightly as the firearm itself: new licensees may only possess up to 100 rounds at home. These bullets must be used or given up at the range before purchasing new ones to take home.

Now, Israel has relaxed some of its gun laws since the October 7 attacks, expanding eligibility for civilian firearm licenses and doubling the amount of ammunition ordinary handgun owners can possess, for instance. But even with those changes, no one's going to mistake Israel's gun laws with those of Wyoming, or even states like Maryland or Massachusetts. 

Fuller's message is particularly relevant to American Jews at a time when antisemitic threats and attacks have become an increasingly serious concern. Synagogues, Jewish schools, and community centers shouldn't have to rely exclusively on police patrols or the hope that someone will arrive in time to stop an attacker. Armed and trained citizens can provide a first layer of defense, and the Second Amendment gives American Jews something that Israelis don't have: a constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.

Fuller is challenging a mindset that treats armed self-defense as something largely foreign to Jewish identity, and I hope his message finds a receptive audience. Defenselessness is not a virtue, no matter what anti-gun activists might claim. 

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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