Considering History, Why Are So Many Jews Anti-Gun?

[BobFromBucks]

Noah Pozner would have turned 7 years old this month. The youngest victim of the December 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and the only Jew among them, his life was cut short because a deranged man was able to access weapons in a nation that cares more about its guns than its children.

“If there isn’t some kind of change in the national consciousness by 6 and 7-year-old children being gunned down in the sanctity of their school, then I think we have lost true north in this country,” Noah’s mother, Veronique Pozner, said after her son was murdered. “Our compass is broken.”

You can hear Pozner enunciate these words in a stunning video on www.forward.com accompanying her profile as the first of the Forward 50, our annual list of American Jews who have most dramatically impacted the national story. She is astonishingly composed. She looks straight into the camera. She looks straight into your heart.

But her words have gone largely unheeded. How can that be?

Her home state of Connecticut did approve a package of laws that included adding more than 100 guns to a list of banned assault weapons, banning armor-piercing bullets and putting limits on gun magazines. Maryland, New York, Delaware, California and Colorado also tighted their gun safety laws, many by expanding and improving background checks. Six months after Adam Lanza added “Newtown” to the ever-growing list of gun-fueled massacres, momentum seemed to be building in state capitols, even if Congress couldn’t manage to approve tepid legislation on background checks.

Progress, however hard-won, proved to be limited, elusive beyond the aforementioned states, all run by Democratic governors ensconced on America’s more liberal coasts. In Colorado, the geographic outlier, the backlash was swift and furious — two state senators who had backed stronger gun laws lost recall elections.

Instead of a developing national consciousness, we see a divide on America’s gun culture that is hardening like cold steel. According to a list compiled by CNN, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming have approved laws loosening gun restrictions in the past year.

Kansas has decided to stop enforcing all federal gun laws. Guns are now allowed in North Dakota churches, Kentucky zoos, South Dakota schoolrooms, Wyoming courtrooms and public college campuses in Arizona. Good luck tracking down what are supposed to be public records on gun ownership; weapons permits are now state secrets in too many jurisdictions to recount here.

How can this be?

The gun industry, the National Rifle Assocation and its fabulously funded allies can exert such absolute power on the local, state and federal level because, in the end, the vast majority of citizens who don’t share their views also don’t care enough to stop them.

Even with the heroic efforts of Gabrielle Giffords, even with the searing statements of Veronique Pozner, even with the outcry over Trayvon Martin’s unnecessary death, even with the gripping logic of those who wish not to ban guns but to reasonably limit them, there still is not enough public momentum to enact the public will.

So as we approach the Newtown anniversary, and the inevitable retrospective stories, some serious introspection is in order. Other nations have responded to such horror with constructive solutions. Australia, for example, chose to enact a massive gun buyback, a ban on assault weapons, and stricter rules for gun ownership after a 1996 massacre shocked the nation.

As a result, experts say, the risk of an Australian being killed by a gun fell by 50%. Firearm suicides declined by 65%. “A nation founded by convicts gave back their guns,” wrote the journalist Julia Baird. And is the safer for it.

Other cultures recognize that the right to self-defense and to hunt with one’s family must be tempered by a guarantee of public safety. As Pozner said on the steps of the Statehouse in Hartford: “Citizens may have the right to bear arms but they do not have the right to bear weapons of mass destruction.” The kind of weapon that was used to murder her son.

Observers say that the movement to create federal background checks, tighten gun laws and ban assault weapons has stalled because proponents lack the passion of their opponents. After every mass shooting, that passion swells up, assumes a human face, ignites heartfelt pleas, and then loses its urgency, its voice, drowned out by well-funded opposition and distracted by other issues. It’s not enough to blame the NRA. Blame ourselves.

When it comes to gun deaths in America, even a massacre like the one in Newtown only claims a fraction of the actual lives lost. Using data from the Center for Disease Control, Slate magazine estimated that as of November 6, 29,576 people died from gunshots in the United States since the massacre at Sandy Hook. Imagine that terrorized, bloody elementary school, repeat it a thousand times, and it still wouldn’t add up to the overall gun violence afflicted on and by Americans.

But Newtown can still serve as a galvanizing moment. And the Pozners can serve as a touchstone.

In the Forward’s video, the family’s rabbi, Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel, recounts how Veronique Pozner insisted that Connecticut Governor Dannell Malloy view Noah’s horribly damaged body before his funeral. “She wanted the governor to see what happened to her child,” Praver said. “She wanted him to enact laws that would protect other children, to protect other people from that kind of carnage.”

Noah left a twin sister, who survived the massacre in another classroom. She’ll be forced to celebrate her birthday without her brother this year, for the first time in her short life.

Go ahead. Look her in the eye and say there isn’t anything more to be done to prevent another little girl from living with this tragedy the rest of her life. Go ahead.

http://forward.com/articles/187289/a...on-guns/?p=all

[Zet70]

Wait, what? American Jews maybe. Israeli Jews are polar opposite. I've been to Israeli and grew up half Jewish. Every male in my family has a ltcf in states permitted.

Join the Jewish defense leagues mailing list.

[PocketProtector]

Simple: they believe the tripe they read. For example: oh oh oh. Gun homicides went down in Britain !!!! Or Ausralia, or pick one Yay.
Omitted: Homicides skyrocketed. Simple propaganda to the unthinking

[newman attack]

Continuing to politicize the deaths of children.....disgusting!


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[Pilot321]

Not all American Jews are anti-2A. This organization for instance.

http://jpfo.org/

However, there seems to be a cultural bias in the Jewish community against guns, and they due tend to vote, and believe in liberal/statist/progressive values. There are tons of articles on the subject theorizing why they are progressives, from being primarily urbanites, to religious issues.

Maybe someone from the Jewish community can give us an inside rationale.

[Qtrborecrazy]

Because american jews are LIBERAL. Just look at who they back, Clinton got every vote in the one town, Sucking Chucky Schumer, Commie Coumo need I say more. Its all about give me.

[Steve_NEPhila]

Sorry but all of you have it wrong, the real reason is more practical. My theory extends to other groups of people beyond just those with Jewish roots.

Almost none of our current population have ever needed a weapon!!!

This extends on to the majority of our fat, intellectually lazy population whom have never tasted struggle. It is so easy for them to look at the authorities with trust, when in fact the history of man has shown those state actors to be quite dangerous.

Elitists are born from experience, they have never (nor have I, yet I as well as others can conceptualize struggle) tasted real struggle for life and against an organized enemy. They (the elitists, this has broadened away from Jews specifically) have veered far away from being in touch with practical concerns. This is the same group that thinks hunting is "cruel." These people are fools due to their own comfort.

Take a moment and think of all of the modern comforts you are enjoying while reading this. Your food was transported hundreds of miles (in some cases thousands) to a single location for you to buy, electricity was produced after multiple steps... the list goes on and on.

This ignorance is human nature and works exactly like our taxation system. Some genius came up with the idea of subtracting taxes before the money is paid to the tax payer. The only thing needed to reduce our tax burden in a New York minute would be to by law have every pay the amount due at the end of every tax year after being given every dollar they earned every period.

My point, the pain and discomfort of struggle is not felt by the masses. This allows groups of people to theorize and dictate what the others can do based on their current situation.

[Metz]

Elitists...

^^^^ this sums it up ^^^^

The whole concept of judaism revolves around being elite. Being chosen ones. Hey, can't blame them for that - it helped them survive over the millenias of persecutions. Yet, there is price for that.

When elitism (regardless of the root) got applied to democracy, then progressivism was born. And progressivism has certain checklist. And there comes another twist. Progressivists tend to label themselves as "thinkers", yet, they don't really want to think. So there are certain things, that they accepts a priori as part of their progressive ideology. And the views on guns is a part of it. And they aren't even going to think about it when asked. "Guns are bad" is an axiom for a self proclaimed "thinker". If you think otherwise, then you'll be kicked out of the club, and no self proclaimed "thinker" wants that.

Also, add the naivity and brainwash. They keep telling, that will never happen. When jews escaped egyptians, they entertained themselves with the idea, that "this will never happen again". But it kept happening over and over again. Ancient Rome, inquisitions, pogroms in Russia 100 years ago, Nazi's Holocaust. And every time jews en masse kept saying "this will never happen again". And only the wise ones said "Bullshit - we have to be able to defend ourselves, when the next Dear Leader will decide to sacrifce us". And I bet it will happen in our lifetime.

[Metz]

Wait, what? American Jews maybe. Israeli Jews are polar opposite. I've been to Israeli and grew up half Jewish. Every male in my family has a ltcf in states permitted.

It's because your relatives are wise people and don't buy all that mainstream bullshit.

Also, Israeli jews have very strange views on guns. They have no problem with "elite" (and army and police is an elite) having them, but an ordinary sheeple shouldn't.

[Aggies Coach]

Sorry but all of you have it wrong, the real reason is more practical. My theory extends to other groups of people beyond just those with Jewish roots.

Almost none of our current population have ever needed a weapon!!!

This extends on to the majority of our fat, intellectually lazy population whom have never tasted struggle. It is so easy for them to look at the authorities with trust, when in fact the history of man has shown those state actors to be quite dangerous.

Elitists are born from experience, they have never (nor have I, yet I as well as others can conceptualize struggle) tasted real struggle for life and against an organized enemy. They (the elitists, this has broadened away from Jews specifically) have veered far away from being in touch with practical concerns. This is the same group that thinks hunting is "cruel." These people are fools due to their own comfort.

Take a moment and think of all of the modern comforts you are enjoying while reading this. Your food was transported hundreds of miles (in some cases thousands) to a single location for you to buy, electricity was produced after multiple steps... the list goes on and on.

This ignorance is human nature and works exactly like our taxation system. Some genius came up with the idea of subtracting taxes before the money is paid to the tax payer. The only thing needed to reduce our tax burden in a New York minute would be to by law have every pay the amount due at the end of every tax year after being given every dollar they earned every period.

My point, the pain and discomfort of struggle is not felt by the masses. This allows groups of people to theorize and dictate what the others can do based on their current situation.

Now there is a well thought out response.