Gun control laws should allow designated, trained persons in the Jewish community to carry firearms for self defense, a leading European rabbi has recommended.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin made this proposal in a letter to European lawmakers following the murder of four French Jews in a Paris Kosher supermarket by a radical Islamist, an attack which was preceded by the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices.
Strict gun control laws are the norm in Europe. “Most European countries have laws restricting civilians’ access to firearms. In some European countries, even police officers go on patrol unarmed as a matter of policy,” The Times of Israel reported .
As the Inquisitr has previously chronicled, anti-Semitic violence and hate crimes are on the rise , not just in France, but across Europe. The rabbi’s letter claimed that European-born jihadists returning home from fighting in the Middle East have even increased the danger to the Jewish community.
Given the prevailing climate, thousands of Jews have already left France for Israel and other countries.
Margolin is the head of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, said to be the largest federation of Jewish organizations and communities on the European continent. The European Union also has its primary base of operations in Brussels.
Rabbi Margolin’s letter stated in part.
“The Paris attacks, as well as the many challenges and threats which have been presented to the European Jewish community in recent years, have revealed the urgent need to stop talking and start acting. We hereby ask that gun licensing laws are reviewed with immediate effect to allow designated people in the Jewish communities and institutions to own weapons for the essential protection of their communities, as well as receiving the necessary training to protect their members from potential terror attacks. Let there be no doubt, we are asking that all weapons will be issued for self-protection only, and to designated personnel that will undergo thorough investigation and training by local authorities… “
Discussing his letter with Newsweek , the rabbi explained the need for additional gun licensing, at least until adequate police resources can be deployed. “Right now Jews do not feel safe. We are threatened on a daily basis. People are afraid to come to synagogue. People are afraid to go to Jewish schools.”
He told the Washington Free Beacon that his organization has repeatedly warned of a “dramatic increase of anti-Semitism in Europe,” and “We demanded from the European governments some time ago that action should be taken [and] were not surprised to see the results in Paris.”
Do you agree with Rabbi Margolin that stringent gun control laws in Europe should be relaxed to enable trained citizens to protect themselves from potential anti-Semitic violence?
[image credit: YouTube]
