New York Jews Embrace Gun Rights – WSJ

It s Sunday morning at Manhattan s Westside Rifle & Pistol Range, where I ve come for a safety class as part of my application for a license to carry a concealed firearm. I m one of at least 10 Jewish men in the class, many wearing yarmulkes. Some wouldn t have dreamed of setting foot in this place a year ago.

I was born and raised a Jew, and I ve lived in Brooklyn and Manhattan my whole life, says Yoni Ben Ami, who declines to give his age or profession but looks to be around 30. I ve never been uncomfortable going around town being visibly Jewish until Oct. 7 and its aftermath. Darren Leung, owner of the Westside range, says he s seen an exponential increase in Jewish permit-seekers and members.

We re thousands of miles from Gaza, but the FBI has warned that threats to American Jews are at an all-time high. Anti-Israel protesters regularly march through the streets, and some commit acts of intimidation and vandalism. Videos have circulated of mobs smashing windows at Grand Central Terminal and trying to break down the door of a library at Cooper Union, where Jewish students were taking shelter.

The Supreme Court s ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022) turns out to have been well-timed. Before that decision, New York City required applicants to demonstrate a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community. The justices held that violated the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

That right is particularly important to members of disfavored minorities. In McDonald v. Chicago (2010), Justice Samuel Alito described the racist origins of many restrictive gun-control laws. After the Civil War, Southern states made systematic efforts to disarm black citizens, even veterans. Gun-control laws left firearms in the hands of the militia and local peace officers, who were widely involved in harassing blacks in the South. A similar story could be told about Hitler s efforts to disarm Jewish veterans of World War I.

via www.wsj.com

The Second Amendment will turn out to be the most essential I suspect. Otherwise, we’d be the same as Canada or Australia, and you wouldn’t want that, would you?