Firearms Friday: From Tel Aviv To California

The news on Wednesday night was maddening and sad but, honestly, I can’t say that I was surprised. The reality of this world, especially in Israel, is that terrorist attacks are going to happen. I didn’t quite expect it to happen at this time, during Ramadan, but the fact remains that three shooters opened fire in a Tel Aviv market killing four people. Afterward there where a few reactions that also didn’t surprise me…

There was no widespread social media outpouring like that which we witnessed following other terrorist attacks in Europe or high profile shootings in the United States for that matter. Actually, there were a number of people and organizations beyond with the clear majority being those affiliated with Judaism or Israel in some way and the next closest, in the United States, being those of a more conservative nature.

Sadly, but again not surprisingly, the liberal media and various groups on the left either saw this as an opportunity to shame and blame Israel into conceding peace or, given the news coming out of California this week, use this as an opportunity to preach gun control through some delusional view of the situation and the world as a whole. And that this the real point that I am going to dwell on for a bit. Give me a minute while I collect myself….

The unfortunate state that this country finds itself in at the moment is that when there is a shooting somewhere in the United States or a well reported incident from around the world, the gun control storm troopers take to the internet, the television, the radio, and/or the podium and preach the flawed and unconstitutional “virtues” of gun control. It has gotten to the point that regardless of the facts of the incident, they celebrate the moment and seize the opportunity to politicize tragedy. They are perfectly happy to strip people of their rights and place the blame on an inanimate object while completely ignoring or dismissing the fact that the individual is responsible for what happened.

By and large, those same people react in the same manner when there is a terrorist attack in Israel as they, once again, seize the opportunity to berate Israel and use the recent incident as a “clear example” of why Israel must make peace. They are perfectly content in stripping Israelis of their security and blaming Israel for “creating this situation” while completely ignoring or dismissing the fact that the individual is responsible for what happened. Further they refuse to accept the reality that the Palestinian people take to the streets in celebration every single time this happens.

For the most part, we are now in a situation where Israel must defend herself and those of us here in the United States must defend ourselves. We both need to defend our right to live and our right to self-defense (despite the ruling in California). We must accept the guiding principle of personal responsibility and focus on the facts rather than accept the propaganda smeared across the headlines. We are Tel Aviv.