Personal weapons, our civilian defensive wall

It destroys pants and shirts, bothers driving, you can not just throw it in the closet and forget about it and generally requires constant attention.

And yet - carrying weapons in Israel is the most significant civilian force multiplier we have in response to terrorism in the streets |

opinion

Keenan Cohen

31/03/2022

Thursday, 31 March 2022, 21:41 Updated: 21:42

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In the video: Documentation of the attack and neutralization of the terrorist in a shopping complex in Be'er Sheva, March 22, 2022 (Photo: Amir Bohbot, Niv Aharonson, Yanir Yagana, Kobi Sapir, MDA, members of silence and documentation on social networks according to section 27A of the Copyright Law)

In the local response to the threat of a terrorist attack that can occur under the house, at the bus stop, in the shopping center and in fact almost everywhere, a significant increase in the number of armed and skilled civilians using it, the ability to provide an initial response to the incident - may be the difference between Tragic, but with a much lower number of casualties.

The Israel Police, which is too small to meet Israel's security and criminal needs, cannot be deployed anywhere and anytime, and is no guarantee of a prompt response.

Apparently, in the last four attacks, this is exactly what happened - the initial response to the incident was given by armed forces who were at the scene by chance.

Although two of them were policemen who happened to be at the scene, in what happened today in the territories and in Be'er Sheva, they were armed civilians.

These cases join a long line of terrorist attacks that have been halted by armed civilians who were nearby.

And this reality has numerical verification.

In a three-year study conducted by Dr. Shlomo Shapira of Bar Ilan University, dozens of terrorist attacks were examined, and according to his findings, in 70% of the cases, these were armed civilians who took part in stopping the attack. There are 140,000 private gun license holders.Despite an increase in demand since the Wall Guard events in May 2021, it has generally been on a downward trend for more than a decade (from about 184,000 license holders in 2009) .An increase in that number will significantly improve the statistics.

More on Walla!

Bennett: "Anyone who has a gun license - it's time to carry it"

To the full article

The wave of terror

• Simultaneously with the wave of terrorism - Palestinians continue to enter Israel unhindered through loopholes in the fence

• Investigation of the Bnei Brak attack: The terrorist entered a known breach, and boarded an Israeli vehicle on his way to the center

• Saving from the first moment: How to start saving in four simple steps

Improve statistics.

Personal pistol (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Carrying weapons for self-defense or saving lives is no longer a necessity or necessity of those living across the Green Line, but a critical component in creating an ideological, image, deterrent or practical "iron wall" of civilians protecting the public from harm.

The Israeli reality has led to quite a few civilians in the country graduating from combat military service.

These have an advantage at our natural behavioral junction in life-threatening situations between the choices of "run away", "freeze" or "fight", almost every one of them under civilian clothes has something of the same "training" left to get up and rush to save lives, even at the cost of their injuries .

If each of them also had the tool and ability to do so - our situation would have been much better.

But there is a condition, and it is a critical condition.

Along with the personal responsibility of carrying a weapon in Israel, in terms of the level of skill of the users and those who carry it, a significant revision must be made.

Today, the minimum threshold of refresher firing for weapons and the achievements required to pass it is very minimal.

And skill in the operation of the weapon is a critical component in the moment of truth where the element of pressure, the fact that the firing will never be inferior since the advantage of initiative and surprise is at the disposal of the terrorist, and all this joins the enormous complexity of using deadly weapons

Along with the need to encourage more civilians, veterans of combat units among others, to possess and carry weapons, the constant required to carry it should increase as well.

Alongside the lecture on fire-opening instructions jagged by these refreshments, also sharpen the emphasis on how to increase environmental awareness of threats, and reduce the risk of turning a shooting response incident into one that will result in casualties from irresponsible gunfire.

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