October 7, 2023, was a horrific day, to say the least. What happened in Israel was an atrocity in the truest sense of the word. It was something that should have woken the entire world up to what Hamas really wants and just how evil an organization it is.
Instead, it somehow woke up lingering anti-semitism throughout the Western world. Too many people are siding with Hamas, not just against Israel as a nation, but against Jewish people in general.
We saw this play out a couple of years ago on the campuses of elite universities like Columbia, but we also see it play out on our streets and on social media.
I'm absolutely disgusted by what I've seen, and I've seen it on both sides of the aisle.
New York seems to have a lot of that anti-semitism, and they also have some Jews who aren't interested in being victims.
“Being Jewish, I have to fear for my life every day, wherever I go,” Werner, a native New Yorker, said. “I don’t expect the police to protect me 24/7. …The only person I can depend on to protect me is me.”
Werner is one of a growing number of Jewish people investing in firearms for self-defense — even in New York, a state known for some of the nation’s strictest gun laws. Just last month, the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a law that bans firearms in sensitive locations, such as in New York City’s subway and Times Square — a ruling that could be appealed to the Supreme Court.
New Yorkers are only half as likely to own guns as all American adults, in part because of the state’s strict laws. It was the first state to require a license for handguns and the first to allow survivors of gun violence to hold the gun industry liable in court. In 2013, after a mass shooting at an elementary school in nearby Newtown, Connecticut, the state tightened the definition of assault weapons, required more stringent background checks and limited magazine sizes and the registration of certain firearms.
But a rise in antisemitism, along with the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, has spurred the growth of organizations like Lox & Loaded, which describes itself as a “Jewish Owned and Operated Shooting Club.” It has opened three chapters in New York and plans another later this year, responding to a growing demand in the Jewish community for using guns for self-defense. One poll found that 56% of Jewish people said they have altered their behavior out of fear of antisemitism and hate crimes.
First, I'm just tickled with the club's name. That's funny as hell, I don't care who you are. I love it.
As for the club, let's understand that I believe anyone who fears for their safety should be able to get a gun and train with it. While I don't like clubs that focus on just one demographic, I also understand that in this day and age, some people are just a lot more comfortable with folks like themselves in a situation that involves firearms.
I don't have to like it, but I get it.
Perhaps more importantly, though, I understand how this is beneficial to the Second Amendment as a whole. If people get comfortable with guns, they start to take a more pro-gun position. That's true even if they primarily shoot with their own demographic group.
And let's be real here, with anti-semitism on the rise, I get the focus here more than I do with some other groups.
There are way too many people who are way too quick to blame Jews and Israel for all of the world's ills. They're convinced the Jews control everything. Of course, if that were true, they wouldn't be getting the official hatred they get from so many world leaders in the West, now would they?
I'm glad to see this group pushing to arm themselves and learn how to be safe with a firearm, both in handling and using it to defend their lives, and doing so despite New York's anti-gun regulations.
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