Considering a brutal onslaught from terrorist groups, the country's national security minister announced an effort this week to up-arm Israelis caught in the crosshairs.
Itamar Ben Gvir, a Knesset member who serves as the country's Minister of National Security, said on Tuesday that 10,000 rifles will be purchased from an Israeli company to arm volunteer civilian security teams or civil alert squads. Some 4,000 rifles have already been acquired and the guns will begin to be issued immediately under a project overseen by Shimon Lavi, a retired police chief.
A press release from the Ministry also said it had purchased related equipment including helmets and protective vests to be distributed to those signing for the rifles and will be sent to "hundreds of towns."
Such local teams, reports The Times of Israel, were "essentially unarmed" at the start of the invasion from Hamas terrorists or were forced to fight off heavily equipped terror cells with only a few personally owned handguns, which are hard to acquire under Israeli law.
While no details were released as to the model or manufacturer of the 10,000 rifles, the country is home to Israel Weapon Industries, or IWI, which makes the Caramel, Galil, Tavor, and UZI series platforms.
In related news, the outlet reports that many Israelis are seeking to relax the country's strict gun control laws. Among other restrictions on public firearms ownership, Israel has a rigid gun licensing scheme with draconian limits such as a fixed 50-round per firearm ammunition cap. Further, those with rarely granted permits must complete refresher training every six months to keep their permits/guns.
According to the government figures reported by Haaretz, as of last summer, just 141,646 Israelis owned a total of 150,015 private firearms. This, in a country of more than 9 million, points to under 2 percent of the general population as gun owners.
Gvir, whose ministry is tasked with overseeing the Israeli police, border guards, and public firearm licensing, announced earlier this week he is moving forward with emergency measures that will allow 4,000 citizens to obtain immediate permits to purchase firearms, enable those with permits to buy 100 rounds of ammunition at a time, and exempt some 1,800 permit holders who have deposited their guns with the government while they waited for renewal training to get their firearms back.
The move echoes efforts by Ukraine lawmakers to implement a local version of the U.S. Second Amendment last year as Russian troops invaded.
"The right to keep and bear arms is natural and universal. The Israeli people have every right to own and carry firearms to defend themselves and we applaud the Israeli government for retracting its tyranny and encourage it to continue", said James Jones, Projects Director and Sentinel editor at Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership in an email sent to Guns.com. "Israel once encouraged citizens to own and carry. Gradual infringement cut this natural right to self-defense and arms ownership. Danger is what you get when a government denies civil rights."
Banner image: An ATI Galeo, made in South Carolina from a surplus IWI Galil SAR parts kit. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
