One week after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel that left hundreds of innocent people, including some U.S. citizens, dead with reports of depravity and mass slaughter, FBI Director Christopher Wray was “ominously warning there is a rising number of terror threats against the US — and that the biggest concern involves potential lone wolves,” according to the New York Post.
While Wray was talking about keeping law enforcement on alert, he appears to have overlooked possibly one vast difference between Israel and the U.S., which might make a major difference if such an attack were to happen here: An armed civilian population capable of immediately fighting back.
It should be no wonder why groups such as the National Rifle Association, Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Gun Owners of America, Firearms Policy Coalition, and affiliate groups too numerous to mention have been fighting for decades to protect the Second Amendment, and the right it enshrines.
In the wake of the Oct. 7 attack, reports circulated that Israelis were asking for easier access to firearms, and at least one high-profile Israeli, Rabbi Raz Blizovsky, had been pushing the government for “easier access to weapons.”
Audacy.com reported that changes in Israeli gun laws would “cover changes to interview processes, expired permits, some training requirements and more.”
Israel does not have a Second Amendment. The U.S. Constitution does, and it has been upheld and clearly defined as protective of an individual fundamental right by three Supreme Court rulings over the past 15 years: Heller (2008), McDonald (2010), and Bruen (2022).
Anyone wondering why the Second Amendment remains important today need only read a Sunday New York Times report focusing on a woman identified as Hila Fakliro, 26, who described the slaughter at the “Tribe of Nova” celebration that ignited the current conflict between Israel and Gaza.
One paragraph in the Times story jumps out: “They were rounded up and shot like animals within hours of losing themselves, and the pressures of Israeli life, in thumping soundtracks of mystical peace and love. “There were these crazy maniacs with guns and people falling one by one,” Ms. Fakliro said. “It was like a shooting range.”
As reported by Fox News, Director Wray was speaking at the annual conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in San Diego.
The Fox story included this quote from Wray: “In this heightened environment, there’s no question we’re seeing an increase in reported threats, and we have to be on the lookout, especially for lone actors who may take inspiration from recent events to commit violence of their own. And I’d encourage you to stay vigilant, because as the first line of defense in protecting our communities, you’re often the first to see the signs that someone may be mobilizing to violence. And I’d also ask you to continue sharing any intelligence or observations you may have.”
In a report from the Crime Prevention Research Center published in August, CPRC founder John Lott asserted that the FBI has vastly underestimated the number of active shooter incidents thwarted by armed private citizens.
“An analysis by the CPRC identified a total of 440 active shooter incidents during that period (2014-2022) and found that an armed citizen stopped 157,” the CPRC report said. “A previous report looked at only instances when armed civilians stopped what likely would have been mass public shootings. There were another 27 cases that we didn’t include where armed civilians stopped armed attacks, but the suspect didn’t fire his gun. Those cases are excluded from our calculations, though it could be argued that a civilian also stopped what likely could have been an active shooting event.
“The FBI reported that armed citizens thwarted 4.6% of active shooter incidents, while the CPRC found 35.7%,” the report added.
Past research by Lott has revealed millions of U.S. citizens are legally licensed to carry, and in more than half of the states, a carry permit or license is no longer required to carry a firearm for personal protection.
The events in Israel are reminiscent of the aftermath of the Russian incursion into Ukraine when the government could be seen in newsreel footage handing out semiautomatic weapons to citizens so they could fight back. It hasn’t happened yet in Israel, but such cases underscore the legitimacy of having a Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights, protecting the right to keep and bear arms.
Anti-gunners are fond of arguing that if a new restriction “saves just one life, then it’s worthwhile.” What about an armed citizen acting and saving perhaps countless lives? Such incidents have already occurred in the U.S., and by no great surprise, the gun prohibition lobby and its allies in Congress and state legislatures have all been mute in the aftermath.
There was the quick action by 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken at the Greenwood Mall in Indiana on July 17, 2022. There was the December 2019 swift action by 71-year-old Jack Wilson at the Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, taking down a shotgun-wielding killer. In May 2022, an unidentified woman drew her legally carried pistol and fatally shot a would-be mass shooter during an event in Charleston, W.Va.
In August 2022, Lott authored an article in Real Clear Investigations, which listed several incidents where armed citizens intervened.
If Wray is correct—and there is no reason to doubt his sincerity because even CBS News grudgingly acknowledges a spike in “terror watch list” hits along the U.S.-Mexico border—there is the potential for some type of attack on U.S. soil.
Ignoring the potential of such an attack being stopped by an armed citizen might be ignoring one of the nation’s best assets. As the saying goes, the Second Amendment is “homeland security” in its most basic form.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
