Israel Debunks NRA Lunacy On Guns in Schools

As seems to be the norm with the far right in America - and the NRA in particular - the truth and objective reality are never allowed to stand in the way of the right wing talking points.  A case in point: claims that Israel has a very low incidence of school shootings because all schools have armed personnel on site as evidenced by the image above.  This sound bite sounds good at first, but under examination, Israeli authorities quickly demonstrate that the claim is untrue.  Moreover, Israel has very strict gun laws - including limits on quantities of ammunition - that would drive the NRA and 2nd Amendment nut cases absolutely apoplectic.  A piece in Daily Kos looks at the real truth of why Israel has very few school shootings.  Here are excerpts:

In the wake of Sandy Hook now we see this from the Israelis: Israelis shoot down NRA's claim that the Jewish State uses more weapons to keep schools safe

Appearing on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, NRA honcho LaPierre said: “Israel had a whole lot of school shootings, until they did one thing. They said we’re going to stop it and they put armed security in every school and they have not had a problem since then.” But Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said the situation in Israel was “fundamentally different” from that in the United States.

“We didn’t have a series of school shootings, and they had nothing to do with the issue at hand in the United States. We had to deal with terrorism,” said Palmor.

“What removed the danger was not the armed guards but an overall anti-terror policy and anti-terror operations which brought street terrorism down to nearly zero over a number of years,” he said. “It would be better not to drag Israel into what is an internal American discussion,” he added.

“There is no comparison between maniacs with psychological problems opening fire at random to kill innocent people and trained terrorists trying to murder Israeli children,” said Reuven Berko, a retired Israeli Army colonel and senior police officer.

Having lived in Israel and trained in courses in Israeli Tactical Point Shooting, I can say that this is very true. There is a very strict emphasis in Israel on gun safety and much less of a "cowboy mentality". Guns are highly regulated and the only people that are out there "carrying" are Soldiers and others connected to Security.
Here are Israeli Gun Control Statistics and Regulations. A sampling of that is here:

Gun Owner Licensing
Genuine Reason Required for Firearm License: Applicants for a gun owner’s license in Israel are required to prove genuine reason to possess a firearm, for example, self-defence, hunting and sport.

Minimum Age for Firearm Possession:  The minimum age for gun ownership in Israel is 27 years and 21 years if served in the military30

Gun Owner Background Checks:  An applicant for a firearm licence in Israel must pass background checks which consider health, mental and criminal30 records

Gun Owner Licensing Period:  In Israel gun owners must re-apply and re-qualify for their firearm license every 3 years

Licensing Records:  In Israel, authorities maintain a record of individual civilians licensed to acquire, possess, sell or transfer a firearm or ammunition

Limit on Quantity, Type of Ammunition:  A licensed firearm owner in Israel is permitted to possess a limited quantity of ammunition.

As one can see... It is not quite the picture that the Right and the NRA like to push.  .  .  .  .  I strongly believe the adage "Guns don't kill people, People kill people - But GUN'S Sure make it a lot easier". They do, and it is time, as Americans, that we understand this and begin a rational discussion around just this issue so that incidents like Sandy Hook, Aurora, and the horror of daily events in our urban areas that go unreported don't ever happen again.