One of the common arguments against strict control of guns is that more laws won’t prevent acts of violence.
That may be true, but those acts of hatred can have very different outcomes when a nation has sane gun laws.
On June 13, the Huffington Post reported on a terror attack in a country that is all too familiar with them: Israel.
A year ago, the city of Jerusalem experienced an attack by a homophobic killer who intended to murder as many gay people as possible. Just like the killer in Orlando, the man was drawn to a crowd of openly gay citizens.
While the Orlando killer targeted a gay nightclub, the Jerusalem killer went to a gay pride parade.
Both men had a deep hatred against gays and lesbians. Both wanted to kill as many people as they could in as short a time as possible. Both succeeded in killing, and both were stopped by the police.
The difference?
In Orlando, the killer was able to shoot one hundred people easily, killing forty nine of them. He was able to hold hostages and keep heavily armed police at bay for three-hours.
In Israel there is no broadly interpreted right to own or carry a gun. The killer there was armed with a knife. He was able to murder one young woman before police stopped him.
Forty-nine to one. Stricter gun laws do save lives.
Australia can also show how better gun laws help to save lives.
What can the U.S. learn from Australia’s gun laws? https://t.co/OzzRu2Vy1l pic.twitter.com/KpMQBnQy7D
— AJ+ (@ajplus) June 15, 2016
In Florida anyone can walk into a gun store and purchase a military style weapon like the one used in the Pulse nightclub massacre. All that’s needed is a valid driver’s license, a signed form swearing that the buyer is not addicted to drugs, and the lack of a felony record.
An automated background check is run within a few minutes, and the buyer can walk out the door with a deadly weapon.
The Huffington Post was able to get a military style gun in less than forty minutes.
In Israel, there is no perceived right to own a gun. If a person is of age (over 21 if they have served in the military, over 27 if they have not), has lived in Israel for at least three years, and can prove a need for a gun, then it’s possible to earn the right to own one.
Proving the need is difficult though. Unlike the United States, you can’t just say that someday a bad guy might break into your house. You have to prove that you work in a war zone, for example.
A prospective gun owner in Israel still has to pass a training test as well as a mental health screening in order to actually be given the weapon. Even then, the government strictly limits the amount of ammunition that a person can buy.
When asked if a civilian in Israel might ever be given legal access to the type of semi-automatic weapon that was used in Orlando (and many other mass shootings in the U.S.) Israeli author Daniel Gordis said:
“Never, never, never, never, never, never, zero. People are walking around with pistols. … The only people walking around with real serious guns are soldiers.”
So as you can see, serious gun laws can have a serious effect on the number of gun deaths in a country, and even in one incident.
For more on gun deaths in the United States, watch this fascinating video:
