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Chabad Rabbi Calls for Gun Law Changes in Europe

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, director general of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) and the European Jewish Association (EJA), has called on governments in Europe to amend gun licensing laws to allow Jews to carry firearms, in light of the recent outbreak of violence against Jews.

From VIN News by Mitch Stern:

Rabbi Margolin wrote to the governments of all EU-member states requesting a change in law, reports Israel National News.

In the letter Rabbi Margolin states, “We hereby ask that gun licensing laws are reviewed with immediate effect to allow designated people in the Jewish communities and institutions to own weapons for the essential protection of their communities, as well as receiving the necessary training to protect their members from potential terror attacks.”

Rabbi Margolin says his request is in direct response to the lack of protection of Jewish communities by European governments.

The letter was sent after four shoppers were shot and killed at a kosher grocery store in Paris, and after 12 journalists were killed at the Paris publication Charlie Hebdo by Muslim extremists.

“We need to recognize the warning signs of anti-Semitism, racism, and intolerance that once again threaten Europe and our European ideals,” continued Margolin.

Since the attacks, France deployed 5,000 security personnel to Jewish schools, but most French Jews don’t feel protected.

Rabbi Margolin says he is not calling for Jews to illegally carry arms, but wants government to step in to lawfully arm Jews so they “feel protected.”

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20 Comments

  • Milhouse

    Why just Jews? The right to self-defense is one of the most fundamental human rights, and yet in Europe it’s completely ignored. Everyone naturally has this right; all European governments have to do is finally acknowledge it.

    The USA bill of rights does not create a right to be armed, it acknolwedges that all people already have that right, that it’s one of the inalienable rights that the Declaration of Independence says were granted by our Creator, and it forbids the government from infringing it.

  • this is so stupid

    I Dont see why Shluchim are weighing into political debate….not what the rebbe ever wanted. Such a law only allowing Jews to have guns is beyond stupidity…never gonna happen

  • declasse intellectual

    What has been downplayed in the news was that the other perp was heading towards a Jewish school until an accident blocked his route to the school. Without guns in the hands of people who have been trained to use them, there would not have been a last line of defense, Heaven Forbid.

  • motti...

    um…. gun availability in europe is less than usa. If you make guns more readily available it will give criminals access to them as well…

  • Andrea Schonberger

    That’s all we need are more guns! I sincerely pray that governments in every country crack down on illegally obtained firearms and the terrorists, criminals, and mentally unbalanced people who try to obtain them for ghastly deeds. Evil deeds must cease and get no sanction from decent peoples.

    • Milhouse

      Yes, more guns are exactly what we need. In the hands of normal people, instead of only terrorists, crimnals, and mentally unbalanced people.

  • Question

    Will this make it easier for bad guys to get hold of guns?
    Reality is more people get killed by guns in the U.S. then in Europe.

    • Milhouse

      Dead is dead, no matter how. There’s nothing special about being killed by a gun. And if you adjust for demographics, crime in most of Europe is far higher than in most of the USA.

  • Ray Richardson

    Should Yidden be sitting targets, waiting to be picked off by these Jihadi animals? Do we need to remind our bretheren what happened in Europe during the 1940s? Jews should be responsibly armed and able to take care of themselves. Never Again!

  • declasse intellectual

    #’s 4,5,6 Get real!!!
    #’s 7,8 you are right
    If the other terorrist had reached the school as he had planned, Heaven Forfend, who would have protected the children??????

  • Locked and Loaded Lubavitcher

    Ah! Finally someone who has some sense makes a good suggestion! Well proposed!

    Now let’s see who has the intelligence to get the same types of laws changed in NY & NJ!!! (because if you think that this is going to only happen “over there”………. you might be in for a shock).

    To # 6:
    We live on planet “earth”, not some mythical utopia, in case you haven’t realized. Until Moshiach comes, on planet earth, the only thing which will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Not rallies, protests, or good intentions. It’s that simple.

    To # 7:
    I think that you have good intentions, but are sadly ignorant of the facts. Please educate yourself.

    Moshiach now!

  • Yiddish - Lover

    BS”D
    To #9
    –Sorry, but what a moron.

    There are approximately 300,000,000 people in the United States and there are approximately 280,000,000 handguns, shotguns, rifles and machine guns in private hands.

    The Crown Heights riots would have been a lot different if we……..Good Shabbos

    • Locked and Loaded Lubavitcher

      if we……Yiddish,being ambiguous isn’t going to accomplish anything other thaN showing the world that we have unfortunately lost another intelligent casualty to political correctness and vernacular passivity. SAY IT FLAT OUT!!

      IF THE JEWS OF CROWN HEIGHTS HAD BEEN ARMED AND HAD NO PROBLEM EXERCISING THEIR G-D GIVEN, CONSTITUTIONALLY ENUMERATED RIGHT OF SELF DEFENSE, AND MADE CERTAIN THAT THE SCUM ON THE STREET KNEW IT, THEN THERE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN THE “CROWN HEIGHTS RIOTS”!!!
      IT’S THAT SIMPLE!!!! WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE FOR FRUM JEWS TO UNDERSTAND THIS?!?!

  • I'm going to save the world

    I also once had the idea of setting up shop on kingston avenue handing out guns, grenades, AK-47’s,

    I even thought about giving them to the anti-police people.

    Anyway one of the kids did something stupid – how was I supposed to know how stupid someone can be? – anyway I regret that decision and wisened up real quick. I think humans shouldn’t touch those death machines.

    They require training. At first I thought that big deal, just set up a bunch of “workshops” for people to take “course” in gun handling, safety, how to properly load, aim, fire, and holster a gun. But then when the buddies showed up, and two einiklach got into a fight about who gets to shoot first, and one of the kids fell down when the gun ejected –

    Um. I think I made a mistake. I realized that these sophisticated weapons require a high standard of training and intellectual capability to use such machinery. I’m not sure if these things are meant for every yingerleh and maiderleh.