Recently, in the two main Jewish neighborhoods here in Los Angeles, there has been a plague of violent assaults against Orthodox Jews who walk alone, or in small groups, on Shabbat, the Sabbath, at night. The fact that Orthodox Jews do not carry money on Shabbat does not deter these criminals. They are quite happy to terrorize defenseless Jews, rip-off watches and jewelry, and do bodily harm to peaceful, unarmed citizens. One Rabbi we know was so badly beaten that he is now afraid to leave his home at night.
The police cannot protect every man, woman and child in Los Angeles. They cannot even protect a small fraction of those they are pledged to protect and serve. It is an impossible task. Often, the social contract fractures and the individual is left to his own devices.
Karen and I learned this the hard way:
Quite a few citizens in Jewish neighborhoods now carry various types of weapons. When the criminals learn that Jews are armed and dangerous, and the predators have no idea who is lethal, they will melt back into the swamps that spawned them for they are, by definition, cowards, looking for easy pickings, not for a fight.
This, I guarantee.
See this link from Seraphic Friend Op For, concerning a former Marine who foiled an armed robbery in Florida. Well done and Semper Fi. And a contrasting story that, tragically, did not have such a happy outcome; the victim was unarmed, defenseless against a well-armed, and evil career criminal.
And so when I saw this article in that fine blog, Of Arms & the Law, it immediately caught my attention. It shows what happens to a free society when only the criminals have acess to arms:
Victims of Crime Trust director Norman Brennan said Britain was quickly gaining a reputation as being one of the most violent countries in the Western world, scarring communities and leaving millions in fear of crime…. “A child is stabbed to death on the streets of Britain every week and knife homicides out-number gun homicides by three to one. If these measures were introduced it would greatly reduce knife crime and consequently save lives.”
To read the rest of this article, please click here.
Speaking of a best defense, I’ve had a chance to study the Cornered Cat site and it is excellent. Its pink hues and overall design make it female friendly, obviously put together for the benefit of women who have been conditioned to fear weapons. But this site is so well organized, so well written that I recommend it for everyone who wants to learn about guns, gun-safety, self-defense, ethics, and oh my, just about everything weapons-related. Sensational.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
35 Comments
DR CAROL:
thanks.
if by any chance you are licensed for a handgun in nyc, could you please email at arisblog@yahoo.com (just leave a me a comment anywhere on my blog so i know to check the email.)
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Tnspr:
We too would like to meet you. Do let us know when you’ll be in our area so we can arrange to meet. I’m the guy in shul who looks exactly like George Clooney.
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Ari,
I found your post, and found it very interesting (I made a comment there, not to presume on Robert’s patience for digressions).
My daughter was excited, her boyfriend aghast (he’s a Massachusetts native, which explains a lot) when I asked her if she wanted a rifle like mine for her college graduation. It can be a good thing to have the boyfriend a little frightened
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Heh heh – I’m very much looking forward to meeting you and the rest of the family one day. Hopefully I’ll make it out to California next summer. We shall wait and see.
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DR CAROL:
“My kids’ favorite saying is ‘Peace through superior firepower.’”
In my post today about prayer book politics I write about Solomon Henry Jackson, a great American patriot who published the first complete American siddur. He made a number of changes to reflect the new American environment and also added “A Prayer for Peace.” I did not disucuss the peace prayer in my post, but in the context here I will note that three paragraphs are a plea for G-d to assist the military forces. Then he concludes with a reference to “nation shall no more lift up sword against nation.”
Jackson understood very well your kids’ concept of “Peace through superior firepower.”
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Suek:
Great quote. Great link. Great soldier. Thanks so much.
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Here’s another link that supports your point.
He has a quote from Jefferson that I’d never heard…
http://americanranger.blogspot.com/2007/07/right-to-bear-arms.html
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Maurice:
Every state should have a bill like Missouri’s bill——including and especially NY and Hawaii.
England is notorious for prosecuting victims who defend themselves against vicious criminals.
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Just heard in the car, on the radio, that the governor of my state (Missouri-I know it will come as no shock, but he’s a Republican) is going to sign a law that would make it so someone who shoots and kills or hurts an intruder cannot be sued for defending themselves. You break into a house at your own risk here in this state….which seems to be kind of a Homer Simpsonesque “doh” thing, but apparently is not.
I have read plenty of stories, especially from Britain, about people arrested and jailed or fined for defending themselves against intruders and robbers. I can’t find one blog article I read recently, but it was titled, and I think appropriately, something about how “this is how civilization ends”, when a storekeeper was arrested and found guilty for defending himself against “hooligans” who were shoplifting. He attempted to stop them, found himself being held and beaten, and in turn, kicked or beat the one holding him to get out of the beating HE was having. But he’s now a “criminal”. How sick is that?
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I got my son into Krav Maga for many reasons; not the least of which is that he needs to learn how to handle himself. You never know what may come.
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Yes, Robert, the Rodney King verdict- LA riots were a wake-up call for me, as well. It is foolish not to take advantage of the right to bear arms; the founding fathers were eternally wise. Robert, not only are your opinion pieces and analyses indispensable; your links are priceless. All-in-all, your blog is the best in the business.
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What, no synagogue/dog jokes?
No, but would a mother-in-law/dog joke serve?
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Dr. Carol:
The non-vioelnt stickers are an invitation for a hot-burglary. These people irresponsible, if not downright self-destructive.
Your kids are wise children.
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Jewboy:
We hope no one has been seriously injured.
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Here in my neck of the woods people have signs on their lawns that say “I leave peaceprints” or “Nonviolence starts with me.” That’s fine, but which house is a burglar going to hit–the one with a peace sign on the front lawn, or the one with the NRA sticker in the window?
My kids’ favorite saying is “Peace through superior firepower.”
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This past Pesach a number of assaults on Orthodox Jews occurred in Baltimore.
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Tnspr:
I like a well made machine, yes. What true American does not?
More than that, I like knowing that to some extent, I am in control of my own fate, that I can defend my family if G-d forbid, the need arises once again.
The LA riots were an awesome wake-up call that, in the end, we are on our own—and the barbarians are out there, armed and on the loose, waiting to pick us off.
What, no synagogue/dog jokes?
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Gee…you sure do like your weapons.
Seriously, it’s terrible that such a situation has developed.
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Congregant comes to rabbi and demands he eulogize his dead dog in the synagogue. The rabbi refuses. The fellow persists, and when he raises the ante enough, the rabbi concedes.
The fellow sobs quietly throughout the eulogy, and then, suddenly, bursts into loud, wracking sobs. Heads turn. People stare wonderingly.
Afterward, when the bereaved has collected himself (and the rabbi has collected his fee), a friend approaches to ask about the outburst.
He replies, still sniffling: “I … I always knew what a wonderful dog he was. But I never realized he was such a friend of Israel!”
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That’s a good one…
The funny thing is that when I would do kiddush…motzi, etc….Rocky, my Boxer, would sit very quietly….
But, no…before anyone asks or wonders….no wine or challah for him.
Just Hills Science Diet…
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Fern:
LOL!
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Fern, I’ve also heard that joke, but with the punchline being “You tell him — he wants to learn in kollel.”
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Well, I have to qualify this joke by saying that it is one my grandpa told me and he has very bad taste in jokes…And also, I remembered it incorrectly, the man is taking his dog to shul to daven:
A man walks into shul with a dog. The shammas comes up to him and says, “Pardon me, this is a House of Worship, you can’t bring your dog in here.”
“What do you mean,” says the man, “this is a Jewish dog. Look.”
And the shammas looks carefully and sees that in the same way that a St. Bernard carries a brandy barrel round its neck this dog has a tallis bag round its neck.
“Rover,” says the man, “daven!”.
“Woof!” says the dog, stands on his hind legs, opens the tallis bag, takes out a kipa and puts it on his head.
“Woof!” says the dog, stands on his hind legs, opens the tallis bag, takes out a tallis and puts it round his neck.
“Woof!” says the dog, stands on his hind legs, opens the tallis bag, takes out a siddur and starts to daven.
“That’s fantastic,” says the shammas, “absolutely amazing, incredible! You should take him to Hollywood, get him on television, get him in the movies, he could make a million dollars!!”
“You speak to him,” says the man, “he wants to be a dentist.”
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Fern:
You’re killing me: what’s the punch-line?
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“I prefer a loaded trained Boxer. Believe me, they are fearless, and my late Boxer, who was professionally trained would have shredded anyone who peeped over the property line.”
I heard a joke once about a man who took his dog to study Torah at his shul…
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David:
We were lucky that night; one wrong turn…
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Pearl:
Yes, the heter, permission to defend against possible assault, has been given by some Rebbeim.
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Lance:
California does allow for CCP, not easy to get but you can get them. Much easier to get is a weapon to keep at home, which is a great deterrence to hot-burglaries.
I have NRA Membership stickers plastered on the windows of my home. This lets the barbarians know that I am locked and loaded and better trained than they are, and the creeps, I guarantee, move on very quickly.
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Orieyenta:
Support for the Second Amendment is wide and deep in these United States. Opposition from the fringe is loud, vocal, and persistent, but it is, I repeat, the fringe.
Thanks so much.
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Halachic question: Seeing as what has been going on in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of late and other L.A. Orthodox neighborhoods in the past, can one get a “heter” to carry a firearm on Shabbos or Yom Tov for safety of self and/or family?
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Robert,
I agree…
Owning a dog is a huge commitment;
Basically, its a 4-legged child…
Also….does California allow concealed weapons permit?
In Nevada…one can get a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
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Robert:
I remember walking home from school on Ave J when a local boy and his friend began harassing myself and my friend for being jewish.
Being two jewish 6th graders from YofF we had never encountered true antisemitism let alone even consider that we would be attacked in our own jewish neighborhood.
One of the thugs pushed me to the ground and began stomping on my head, my friend afraid for his own safety quickly fled(till this day he is ridiculed for being a coward- I however never blamed him for running)
That day was very traumatic for me, it made me realize how vulnerable I was to street crime and anti-semitism.
As long as would wear a kippa in the street I would have to be acute aware of my surroundings. I quickly learned how to be street smart.
I was never accosted again because I learned how to avoid trouble before it materialized.
You proved that your street sense in the movie theater was of great value to you and your family.
It possibly save your lives.
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It’s a sad thing indeed when we are forced to carry guns in order to simply exist. I know that your position on “the right to bear arms” is not always the most popular position here in the US. But I applaud you for standing firmly for your beliefs and for educating us to the best of your ability.
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Lance:
Dogs can be wonderful for home defense, but they are not for every citizen, for obvious reasons. For instance, you cannot take a dog with you everywhere you go. And some people just don’t want to keep a dog for all sorts of reasons. For instance, you don’t have to feed, walk or take a gun to a physician.
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Robert,
So true.
Jews need to be armed.
I prefer a loaded trained Boxer. Believe me, they are fearless, and my late Boxer, who was professionally trained would have shredded anyone who peeped over the property line.
When Richard Ramirez was terrorizing LA during the ’80′s we slept soundly with our Boxer around…
However, I think EVERY responsible citizen should train themselves in the use of a firearm. It’s sick when we can’t even leave our homes.
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