What Is it with Jews and Guns and Arizona? Back in NY, as in most eastern cities, Jews are rabidly anti-gun(but show them a photo of the IDF storming a house full of terrorists, brandishing Uzi’s and there is a deep sense of pride. ).
I went shooting when we moved here for the first time in my life unless you count the 6th activity period of Riflery at Camp Pocono Ridge in 1966, at the Ben Avery Shooting facility in North Phoenix. I fired a .22, a .38, and a .357 Magnum. I wanted to ask the instructor “do you feel lucky punk?
I could search for these deep emotional responses to my experience but the one that comes up most readily is “an experience.” I was not raised with guns, so I sought out Jews in Scottsdale to find what made them tick, or in this case, shoot.
One guy, Nate,70 was a New York City Transit police officer for 25 years but was not raised to shoot. He learned it in the Army. None of his friends were shooters-mostly liberal Jews-and who distanced themselves from him because “Jews weren’t cops.” ( Shomrim Society). To most families, the memory of the Holocaust was fresh, and except for many many heroes of the Resistance, our people didn’t generally arm themselves in Europe or even here in earlier days. Oddly enough, after he left the force, his friends ‘returned’. He was not a cop anymore, but he was the same person he had always been.
Why is Arizona a place where the gun mentality is accepted? As recently as the 1980s, Arizona was still the conservative Wild West, trying to become a 20th-century state.
The most often heard answer to my fellow Jews as to why they shoot and carry? Because they can. And some of my blue friends now own guns, attributing it to the direction our country is headed.
Jewish gun owners come in various shapes. There are those who shoot for fun, those who carry their gun on the hip, and those who keep it by the bed. I wondered who is going to break into your house in Scottsdale. Is it someone desperately in need of implants? Well, sadly, we’re not as safe anymore, as evidenced by a shooting in my neighborhood last week, just 400 yards away in the next community.
Rick, 55, from Chicago, said his dad had rifles from Korea, but he hid them. When he found them, he asked lots of questions, so he was taught how to shoot. Today, he shoots at the Scottsdale Gun Club, but his own son doesn’t shoot, and Rick vows his son never will. His reason: today’s young kids see the fun and not the seriousness and having been desensitized, they rack up dozens of “kills” on their video games, without knowing the true burden of responsibility and gun ownership. And school shootings, club massacres, movie theater rampages, and supermarket attacks seem to happen time and time again, and some accept it as life today.
Seth is 26, raised in a big city, and transplanted here 6 years ago. He never shot growing up, but his dad had a gun, working security. Of all his pals, he had one Jewish friend who shot, and all the others were anti-gun. For his dad, a gun was protection and today, Seth owns a semi-automatic because he finds himself in his business, alone, at times, to defend himself against the guy you DON’T know about.
Nate carries because he worries someone will carjack him or make him the target of road rage. While taking pride in his arsenal, he won’t hunt. He says he doesn’t eat meat and “animals are too beautiful-part of nature.”
Someone told me that Eastern European Jews are anti-gun; Sephardic are pro-gun. I’m not sure I get that, but it all comes back to culture. Jewish, East Coast, and Arizona cultures are all mixed.
I am not anxious to shoot again but if I did, I have no worries it would become part of my mindset. I can’t see myself walking down the street, feeling afraid (whether real or imagined) and saying: “Go ahead. Make my Shabbos!”
That may have been a funny retort 20 years ago, but today, gun violence is an American tragedy.
Gunfight at the Oy Vey Corral
Love this column
I know others with guns and that is their right. However, it is getting really old to see the senseless killings going on around the country. Here in my adopted State of MI at my MSU alma mater we recently saw how guns kill. We also saw how a kid brought a gun to school and shot other children. These are not unique experiences. They are happening all over the country. While I believe one has the right to own a gun, it doesn't give everyone carte blanche to go shooting. The answer is not to buy more guns. The answers lie in reasonable legislation to flag folks that shouldn't have a gun. Make training mandatory as we all must do in another killing machine, our vehicles. And we need to make registration necessary as we also do for that other killing machine, our vehicles. I personally feel we should limit the types of weapons sold and the ammo that goes with it. However, I'd be happy if we started with what I suggested prior to that. It is ridiculous that the gun industry, that is primarily interested in making profits is dictating our policies and convincing people that their way is the ONLY way to stay safe. To quote our Governor, "Enough is enough!"