“Many Americans have unthinkingly accepted -- thanks to endless repetition by some politicians and media personalities -- that "gun control" can and will produce "safe streets" or reduce "gun violence", by which they mean criminal activity. Some American Jews agree. Few see that "gun control" is lethal, especially to Jews.” These opening sentences can be found on, http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/fear.htm , along with the remaining in depth history.
This description is sadly too true. Many Jews have been programmed from birth to avoid confrontation. While historically, our people have been defenders of our properties and persons, in the last six centuries our People have become more and more reticent. This was brought to a head in 1930’s Germany. Despite being accepted in politics, art, education and the science of the times, it took only an economic crisis for others to turn on the Jews as scapegoats for their problems. One year after being put into office, Hitler enacted the first Gun Control laws which led to the eventual annihilation of 6 Million Jews.
We are a trusting People. We WANT to trust. The trouble is in whom we’ve placed that trust. We want to trust our Nations’ laws, and yet so did the Jews in Germany. We forget to take into account the Laws of Moses, or the Five Books of Moses. Even when we do, we don’t see what’s written.
For instance, the sixth Commandment is, “Thou shall not murder.” Some translations interpret it as, “thou shall not KILL”, and the enormous difference in the meaning between those two words leads to problems. Murder and killing are two entirely different acts. The distinguishing point here is Intent. Murder is intentional killing for personal profit, which is against G-d’s teaching. Defending ones life is not only allowed in Jewish Law, it is commanded. What makes us different is that we do not relish the taking of life to save our own. Our mission is to STOP the attacker, and hope that defending ourselves will not result in death. As on Passover, when we diminish the cup one drop for each plague to acknowledge the loss of life caused to the Egyptians, we regret it.
Our current need for self defense is to be viewed in the same way. We defend our lives with effective tools. We hope to never need them. When we do use them, we pray that our actions simply save our lives and stop the attacker. At no time do we look forward to causing the death of another person, but defending our lives is not only allowed it is expected in Jewish Law. Those who would promote “gun control” agendas, actively work against G-d’s commandment.
