As the world watches the atrocities of the past few days unfold in Israel — including Hamas terrorists going door to door to kill Israelis — it is notable that Israel does not have a U.S.-like Second Amendment and private gun ownership among Israelis is low.
The BBC reported that “Israeli gun ownership is low at about 2% of the population.” In contrast, the findings of a recent study by Rutgers University’s New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center estimated upwards of six in ten Americans own guns.
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The difference, in large part, is the Second Amendment. Israelis are allowed to own guns at whatever level their government approves whereas Americans have a birthright to gun ownership that is protected by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Israelis are also limited in the type of firearms and quantity of ammunition they can own. The BBC observed, “Usually citizens are allowed to hold a pistol and a limit of 50 bullets.” In all but the bluest states, Americans can own almost any gun imaginable — including machine guns — and can have as much ammunition stored and ready as they can afford.
Even leaving out machine guns and focusing on semi-automatic rifles, such as AR-15s and/or AK-47s, there are nearly 25 million such rifles in circulation in the U.S., according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation. This means there are more AR/AK-style firearms in circulation in the U.S. “than Ford F-Series trucks on the road.”
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Add in all the pistols, revolvers, lever action rifles, and shotguns (pump, single shot, over under, semiautomatic, etc.) and the total number of privately-owned firearms in the U.S. is well over 434 million. But Israelis are limited to handguns and only a certain number of bullets.
The University of Sydney’s Gun Policy center noted that in Israel “the right to private gun ownership is not guaranteed by law.” America’s Founders enshrined private gun ownership in an amendment that ends with the words, “Shall not be infringed.”
Israelis have to obtain a gun license in order to legally possess a gun and the BBC pointed out that more and more Israelis are trying to get such a license, reporting that “applications for gun licenses have more than doubled, according to the national security ministry, from 19,000 in 2021 to 42,236 last year.”
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In January, the Israeli security cabinet approved measures to curb terrorism following deadly attacks in Jerusalem, including making it easier for civilians to carry guns and revoking residency and citizenship of terrorists. The Times of Israel noted ministers in the “high-level security cabinet” were convening to discuss response options to the terrorism, and those options “[included] expediting the issuing of firearms licenses for civilians and providing further funding for the purchase of guns.”
Commentators have suggested Israeli leaders may go further than expediting licenses this time; that they may broaden the types of weapons Israelis can own privately for defense of themselves and the nation.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
