.  Israel OKs 60,000 more gun permits in terror fight
   Washington Times
   March 7, 2002

Byline: Abraham Rabinovich
JERUSALEM - Sixty thousand additional gun permits are to be distributed to
Israeli civilians as authorities loosen licensing restrictions to help
fight a growing wave of terrorism. Top Stories

Armed civilians have played a significant role in bringing down terrorists
during the Palestinian uprising, most recently during an attack this week
by a Palestinian gunman at a Tel Aviv restaurant where a wedding party was
under way.

A 46-year-old civilian packing a pistol fatally shot the terrorist at
close range after three persons had been killed and he had been wounded.
When a radio reporter asked the man whether he was a member of the
security forces, he said he was a shoe salesman.

Police and Interior Ministry officials decided this week to make 60,000
more gun permits available to civilians, particularly reserve army
officers and veterans of combat units. Guns also are being issued to
firemen and municipal inspectors while they are on duty.

Most Israelis are army veterans and are familiar with firearms. Already,
265,000 guns are in civilian hands, particularly in border areas and the
occupied territories. With terror now striking the Israeli heartland
almost daily, officials decided to make more guns available there as well.

Police Inspector-General Shlomo Aharonisky cited a danger that some people
would be too quick to use the weapons.

"But," he said, "there's no question that weapons in the hands of the
public have prevented acts of terror or stopped them while they were in
progress. Chance passers-by have killed terrorists in the midst of gun
attacks."

New bylaws obliging large businesses to post armed guards outside their
premises are soon to go into effect.

The laws will apply to any business with more than 5,000 square feet of
floor space as well as hotels, cinemas and other locations that draw large
crowds. Police patrols are being stepped up around schools, including
kindergartens.

Adi Eldar, mayor of the city of Karmiel in Galilee, has asked all city
officials to carry weapons during working hours.

Mr. Eldar, head of the Union of Local Authorities, has called on all
mayors in the country to do likewise.

One-third of the nation's 6,000 bus drivers also carry personal weapons to
work.

Despite the uneasiness caused by the terror attacks, the public is not
panicked. The dominant sentiment appears to be a desire to strike back at
the Palestinians.

That mood was captured in an article published yesterday in the newspaper
Yediot Ahronot under the headline, "What to do [when facing] an armed
terrorist."

In the article, a retired police officer said civilians firing at armed
terrorists might hit other civilians but argued that the risk had to be
accepted.

Another retired police officer assured a radio interviewer that an easing
of licensing restrictions would not put weapons in the hands of criminals.
"Every criminal who wants a weapon already has one," he said.

Now it's my turn 1GUNRUNNER! You obviously didn't catch my 'Surprise! Israelis Gun Permits Up 75%' thread yesterday!

Heh-heh![:D]

But, admittedly, mine was from the Jerusalem Post, which as everyone knows, is delivered to my front porch!

Eric The(Gotcha!)Hun[>]:)]

Contrast that with Mineta and Ridge.  We need some Israeli beurocrats over here...

I would second that, especially since the western media is so f*&king blind, that if G Dub-Wa was listening to them he would never realize their was an actual War on over there.



Benjamin

EDITED TO ADD:
Go Gettem ISREAL.

EDITED TO ADD AGAIN!!:
I hope everyone realizes that GW can't really say anything.  If he says anything at this point in History it will tip the scales in the middle east against the US and ISREAL.  So Bush said nothing and Collin Powell got the orders to say what he said just tipping the scales just ever so slightly for the US by condemning only the violence from a lower place in government.  Sharon has had enough, and GW and Powell know it.  If they come out for Isreal it will turn against us there.  They will play for the status-quo till Arafat is killed either way Isreal looses that part of the game, If he is killed from Within it will be blamed on Isreal, if he is killed by Isreal in an attack the palestinians will use it as an excuse to raise the level of violence a great degree between Isreal. It will be at this point Bush will say that Isreal has the right to self-preservation.
And Isreal and US will be free to conduct themselves in a manner which will bare fruit for the two countries.    That is just my little supposition/prognostication.

Benjamin

I'll take the Galil SAR.