Want To Learn Armed Self-Defense? Move To Monsey, N.,Y.
If I had to choose one news story about gun violence
which ranks as the craziest, most bizarre example of the American experience
with guns, it would be an article I read yesterday detailing a class held in armed, self-defense
last week in Monsey, NY. The class was attended by 150 residents of Monsey and
other towns, all of whom happen to be extremely religious, ultra-orthodox Jews. The class gave attendees
an opportunity to fool around with various self-defense guns like an AR-15 and
some handguns, and it was conducted by a guy who runs a security and
self-defense so-called training program which, of course, is staffed by
‘elite’ members of Israel’s Defense Forces, a.k.a., the vaunted IDF.
What brought the crowd out for the evening’s
entertainment was the recent machete attack at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, along
with a shooting that left three dead at a kosher supermarket in New Jersey, as
well as several individual attacks. Of course before anyone knew anything,
Governor Cuomo called the Monsey assault a case of “domestic
terrorism,” which has become the standard description of every violent
event requiring a response from some politician who wants to make sure he’s staying
‘in touch.’
I don’t mean to make light of any kind of behavior that
creates fear of physical or emotional violence. Of all the threats to the human
community, the only threat we still do not understand how to solve is the
threat of violence. We may not have the political will or the political
alignment to solve the threat of global warming, but we know what to do. Ditto
other threats to the human community like famine or disease. But when it comes
to the threat posed by violence, what I know is that you can’t go out, buy an
assault rifle and think that now you are ready to protect yourself from a
violent event, or that this purchase will do anything to reduce violence
overall. What you have basically done by plunking down your thousand bucks for
that black gun is to ratchet up the possibility that more violence will occur.
Not only doesn’t violence prevent violence, but
before we even get to that issue we first have to make sure that when we use a
word like ‘violence,’ we all can agree on what we are talking about. So, for
example, the Anti-Defamation League publishes an annual report on
anti-Semitic attacks which claims there has been a disturbingly-high number of
such events over the last several years. But if you read the fine print, you
discover that while incidents of vandalism and harassment have increased, the
number of physical attacks have gone down. So what should members of the Jewish
community do? Walk around with an assault rifle handy in case someone tries to
paint a swastika on the synagogue wall?
I notice, by the way, that the promoters of armed self-defense at the Monsey meeting forgot to mention that bringing a gun into a synagogue during Shabbos (Sabbath) religious services happens to be a violation of Jewish law. You can’t carry metal objects in your pockets during Shabbos; you can’t wear any kind of ornamental items like a holster on your pants. Maybe the alleged security experts from Israel can provide the Orthodox residents of Monsey with the name of a Shabbos goy (a gentile to perform prohibited tasks during the Sabbath) who can walk around the synagogue with a gun.
Forgive me for sounding just a little bit less than enthusiastic about the spread of armed, self-defense into the Orthodox Jewish community. And if anyone wants to tell me that by being disarmed, these Jews are just inviting another nut to show up and slaughter some more innocent folks, do me a favor and in the words of my late friend Jimmy Breslin, go lay brick.
What did Solomon say in Ecclesiastes? “A time to kill and a time to heal.” He didn’t say that after someone is killed, you should go out and by an AR-15.
