Monday's terror attack in Israel was one more example of the evil Israel faces every day.
It also showed the value of an armed citizenry.
Two Palestinian terrorists arrived at a Jerusalem bus stop and opened fire, using makeshift "Carlo" submachine guns. They murdered six and wounded another dozen, half of them seriously, The Times of Israel reported.
Four victims were pronounced dead at the scene. The other two died at the hospital. But those six weren't the only fatalities from the incident.
The two terrorists, who'd reportedly arrived by car from their adjacent West Bank villages, were also killed — but not by police. Several other people, including an off-duty soldier, were armed and responded to the threat.
Canadian-American author and podcaster Aviva Klompas identidied one of those heroes: "A Haredi yeshiva student, licensed to carry a firearm only a year ago, was among those who neutralized the attackers."
Surprisingly, despite the fact that Israel is a tiny country surrounded by enemies, private gun ownership was uncommon in the Jewish state until fairly recently. Two events in 2023 changed that.
On Jan. 27 of that year, a 13-year-old Palestinian gunman took the lives of seven worshippers at a Jerusalem synagogue before he was killed. Not only was it Friday, the Jewish sabbath, but they were also commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Rather than declare all areas in and around places of worship “gun-free zones” like a typical Democrat might suggest, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a better idea.
"We're expanding and accelerating gun licensing to thousands of licensed citizens, including first responders. This will allow citizens to save lives," he said.
That was the first incident that year prompting private gun ownership. The second was Oct. 7, 2023 when some 1,200 Israeli civilians of all ages were slaughtered, raped, in some cases burned alive and in others beheaded by Palestinian terrorists.
Afterwards, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir said, "Today I directed the Firearms Licensing Division to go on an emergency operation in order to allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves."
The quick response to Monday’s attack was proof that the program to arm qualified citizens is working. Eighteen were shot, six fatally, but there were many more people than that waiting for buses, walking and driving by, and the gunmen had automatic weapons.
Israel's push to get as many civilians as possible armed and trained was hauled by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), a Bellevue, Washington-based Second Amendment rights support organization.
"Monday morning in Israel, people waiting peacefully at a bus stop were targeted by a pair of terrorists who made the fatal error of expecting all of their intended victims to be unarmed. Now they’re both dead, thanks to the quick action of an off-duty soldier and one or more armed private citizens," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb.
"When people are being killed or wounded before your very eyes, calling 9-1-1 is not an option. Israel evidently understands this, and it is time for gun prohibitionists here in the United States to admit their crusade of citizen disarmament only creates more defenseless victims who can't fight back," Gottlieb concluded.
But if we can't learn from Israel's recent experience, we should at least take the wisdom of the Founders to heart.
Thomas Jefferson noted in the Declaration of Independence that life is one of the unalienable rights that we all possess. If life is a fundamental right, then it follows that defense of life is just as fundamental, just as necessary.
On Jan. 8, 1790, at his first annual address to both chambers of Congress, George Washington noted that "A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined . . . "
Jefferson, quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria, observed in a notebook that gun control laws only affect law abiding citizens — not the criminal.
"The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature," he said. “They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
Had an armed and trained citizen been traveling on the Charlotte light rail on the evening of Aug. 22, perhaps a young girl, a Ukrainian refugee full of hope for the future, might still be alive today.
An armed society, properly trained, is a safe one.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He's also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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