A gun lover’s dream or a stringently controlled police state that would make a
National Rifle Association supporter’s blood boil? In recent days, following the
massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 26 dead, including 20 children,
Israel has been mentioned as a country awash in guns yet still free of such
random massacres. Many have pointed out that the difference between the
countries is not in the prevalence of guns, but the regulations that accompany
them.
According to Yaakov Amit, the head of the Public Security
Ministry’s Firearms Licensing Department, the difference between the gun laws in
the US and Israel are as clear as night and day.
“There is an essential
difference between the two. In America the right to bear arms is written in the
law, here it’s the opposite... only those who have a license can bear
arms and not everyone can get a license.”
Amit said gun licenses are only
given out to those who have a reason because they work in security or law
enforcement, or those who live in settlements “where the state has an interest
in them being armed.”
He added that former IDF officers above a certain
rank can get a license.
Anyone who fits the requirements, is over age 21
and an Israeli resident for more than three years, must go through a mental and
physical health exam, Amit said, then pass shooting exams and courses at a
licensed gun range, as well as background checks by the Public Security
Ministry.
Once they order their firearm from a gun store, they are
allowed to take it home with a one-time supply of 50 bullets, which Amit said
they cannot renew.
The gun owner must retake his license exam and testing
at the gun range every three years. As of January, Amit said, a new law will go
into effect requiring gun owners to prove that they have a safe at home to keep
their weapon in.
Amit said that since 1996, not long after the Rabin
assassination, there has been a continuous reduction in the amount of weapons in
public hands due larger to stricter regulations. He estimated there are about
170,000 privately-owned firearms in Israel, or enough for around one out of
every 50 Israelis, far less per capita than the US, where there are an estimated
more than 300 million privately owned guns for a population of a little more
than 300 million.
Amit also said there are only approximately 2,500
people in the country who have gun licenses for hunting, and they must first get
approval from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
Aside from Israel’s
strict gun laws, reasons for the lack of mass shootings can be attributed to the
country’s closely knit family structure, small size and intimacy and informality
between strangers or the universal health care which makes mental health
services available for all.
When asked why Israel doesn’t have such
killings, Amit said “you can’t prevent this entirely. You can’t ensure that
someone won’t someday go crazy and do something like this, but we do our best to
prevent it from happening.”
There is no “Full-auto Friday” or “Ladies
Night” special deals at the Lahav gun store and shooting range in Tel Aviv, a
shop that bears little resemblance to its counterparts in the United
States.
“Those people over there [United States] are barbarians when it
comes to weapons, the situation there is insane, but here we’re too far to the
other extreme,” said Yiftach Ben-Yehuda, 30, whose grandfather Yisrael opened
the store with two friends in 1949.
Located around the corner from a row
of peep shows and African migrant pubs near the new Central Bus Station in Tel
Aviv, Lahav is the oldest gun store in Israel. It presents a clear contrast
between the culture of free-for-all gun stores and lax regulation in the United
States, and that of Israel.
There was a very small number of guns for
sale in the store, and most of the items on the racks appeared to be accessories
for IDF-issued firearms, for Israelis looking to customize their reserves
weapons. The guns on display included a few 9mm pistols, but no assault rifles,
hunting rifles, or shotguns were to be found. A poster of a bikini-clad woman
holding a Glock .40 was one of the few similarities between the store and its
American counterparts.
“The private gun sales market is virtually
nonexistent. Almost all of our business is in selling slots at the range and
testing people looking to renew their gun licenses,” Ben-Yehuda said, sounding
like a man whose clientele has dropped off significantly in recent
years.
“The problem is that the law makes it very difficult for the good
people to get guns. The number of legal guns in recent years has gone to around
170,000, but there are a half a million illegal guns floating around the Arab
sector, no one knows how many. There’s no reason someone who was a fighter pilot
shouldn’t be able to get a license to carry a gun.”
According to
Ben-Yehuda, the store only sells two hour blocs at its firing range, with 50
bullets included, for a price of well over NIS 200 – far more expensive than in
the US. Ben-Yehuda said he doesn’t know of anyone who has received a new carry
permit in the past two years, and that potential clients are deterred by the
stringent regulations. “I don’t even have a gun license and I work
here.”
For Boaz, a hi-tech worker and IDF shooting instructor who lives
in Efrat, the licensing process was no walk in the park, even though he lives in
a settlement and applied for his license during the second intifada.
“It
actually took a few months to get the license and this was back when buses were
being blown up every day, so there was pressure to arm people but they still
weren’t in a hurry.”
After three months he said he got a license and then
took his test and the shooting range, before being allowed to purchase a CZ-75
pistol that took around a week to receive. He then had to go through a
three-hour course with the instructor on gun safety and the use of the
particular firearm, even though he serves in an IDF combat reserves unit and was
a shooting instructor in the army.
With four children at home, Boaz said
he always keeps the gun on him, and while he sees the need for having armed
citizens in Israel, he doesn’t think the situation should resemble that of the
United States.
He added that his license must be renewed every three
years through the same extended process, and that he is still restricted to the
same lifetime supply of 50 bullets at home.
“It reminds me of what a
shooting instructor in the army told us. If you need more than 50 bullets, a
pistol isn’t going to solve your problem.”