The Hamas attack in Israel has set of alarms within the Jewish community in southern Florida, according to WPLG News, and many people in that community are buying guns and signing up for training courses.
Concerns may not be lessened by President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel or his planned speech to the nation Thursday evening.
The report reinforces an article in AmmoLand News, which focused on the fact that U.S. citizens might provide an obstacle to such terrorism in this country because the Second Amendment protects their right to be armed. There is no such right in Israel, and some leading advocates want gun regulations relaxed.
The Daily Caller quotes firearms retailer David Kowalsky who notes many of his new clients are “Israeli and Orthodox Jews.”
“Just wanting to be trained to protect their families and have a firearm at home or on their person,” he said. “Since last Saturday we have seen a tremendous public display of how prevalent anti-Semitism is and hate speech and how they want to rid the world of Jews.”
That appears to be true, as demonstrations around the U.S. sympathetic to Palestinians, and critical of Israeli counterattacks in Gaza, have been reported.
According to the WPLG report, “Dozens of South Florida gun shops and shooting ranges are seeing a spike in gun sales and a desire to train since Israel was ambushed by Hamas terrorists.”
Over the weekend, FBI Director Christopher Wray was “ominously warning there is a rising number of terror threats against the US — and that the biggest concern involves potential lone wolves,” according to a story in the New York Post.
WPLG quoted a Jewish woman identified as Endi Tennenhaus, who said “most of the men in her synagogue” were in the process of arming themselves.
“We said, ‘What about the women?’ We need to do the things we need to do to prepare,” Tennenhaus told a reporter. “To stay safe and to be able to use a gun, God forbid if we ever should need one.”
The report noted many Jewish women had been buying guns, as well as men, and the women were taking firearms training.
Kowalsky’s gun store is providing additional classes to meet the demand.
Florida is one of the 27 states where permitless carry is now legal. But the Jewish community appears strongly interested in the kind of training that goes beyond mere safety in the home.
In Israel, when Hamas terrorists attacked starting with a music festival—killing hundreds of people in the process—nobody was armed. In southern Florida, it is evident members of the Jewish community will not allow that to happen here.
