260,000 Israelis have applied for gun licenses since the Gaza war

2023-12-04 20:34:00

The applications were submitted by “normal and good citizens who want to protect themselves and their families,” Itamar Ben-Gvir told journalists on Monday. As minister, his goal is to enable as many people as possible to obtain weapons.

In a short period of time, his ministry issued up to 1,700 gun licenses every day, said Ben-Gvir. Before the Gaza war, there were just under a hundred people a day in the country with a good nine million inhabitants. Just a few days after October 7th, the minister called for volunteers in the Gaza border area to be equipped with assault rifles. Ben-Gvir repeatedly called for the requirements for applying for a firearms license to be relaxed.

In order to comply with the many requests, Ben-Gvir said he also commissioned unqualified employees to issue the notes. Critics worry that the mass issuing of firearms licenses and the increased circulation of weapons could lead to more deadly incidents in Israel. Since October 7th there has been an increase in violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

An incident occurred in Jerusalem on Sunday in which an Israeli civilian was allegedly shot by a soldier during a Palestinian attack. The soldier, who according to media reports was not on duty, apparently thought the civilian was an attacker. The civilian initially shot at the attackers, but then threw away his weapon.