Jewish Americans Are Stocking Up on Firearms Due to Safety Fears

Jews in the United States have been increasingly purchasing firearms in the aftermath of the Hamas attack, with many of them worried about safety amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“We’ve definitely seen a tremendous increase in religious Jewish people, Orthodox people, purchasing firearms,” David Kowalsky, a Jewish man who owns Florida Gun Store in the town of Hollywood, Florida, told NBC News. “I’ve seen a surge in interest in individual training as well as group training.”

Over the past week, local synagogues have reached out to him to conduct gun training seminars and shooting sessions, he said, adding that most of the participants were new to firearms.

“These are mothers, teachers, the majority of them are mostly people who have never interacted with firearms or thought about owning them,” he said. “There’s a safety concern. I think people are nervous about what’s going on and what can happen.”

The rising interest in gun ownership among Jewish Americans contradicts the typical stance of the community, which sees gun ownership as a taboo. “The majority of Jews in the country historically have been liberal on the left, pro-gun reform, pro-gun control, opposed to personal gun ownership,” Hank Sheinkopf, an Orthodox rabbi, told NBC News.

“Jews with guns were always seen as an odd event,” he said. But now, the view of the United States being the “one place in the world where Jews are safe—is coming to an end.”

Anti-Jewish Crimes

According to FBI data, there were over 1,300 anti-Jewish hate crimes in the United States in 2022.

Brian Levin, founding director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University–San Bernardino, told The Associated Press that anti-Jewish hate crimes have usually increased during violent Israeli-Palestinian clashes.

For instance, in October 2000, anti-Jewish hate crimes in America jumped monthly from 81 to 204 after a series of violent protests took place in Arab villages in the northern regions of Israel, he said.

In California, anti-Jewish propaganda was spread through flyers a couple of weeks ago. In Fresno, police are investigating a case of vandalism at a local synagogue.

In Montreal, Canada, police said that as of Oct. 18, they received reports of 12 anti-Jewish hate crimes since Oct. 7.

Julie Platt, chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, said that while synagogues and community centers in the United States are boosting their security programs, she doesn’t want her people to give up their religious lives out of fear.

“I think the whole point of this is to terrorize us psychologically,” she told The Associated Press. “As long as I hear of no credible threats, I believe we should live our Jewish lives.”

Gun Ownership Among the Religious

According to an analysis by Ryan Burge, research director at the nonprofit organization Faith Counts, Jews have one of the lowest rates of gun ownership in the United States.

A chart he posted on social media last year showed that Jews had the third-lowest rate of gun ownership in the United States among 16 categories of people sorted by religious belief, with only 11 percent owning firearms. At the top of the list were white evangelicals, with a gun ownership rate of 33 percent.

David Prince, who runs Eagle Gun Range in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas, told The Telegraph that demand at his two locations jumped by 300 percent following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

“It’s been a really big change this last three or four days,” he said. “The people coming in and saying they are scared for their lives, because of their religion they are expecting to be attacked.”

In an Oct. 20 X post, firearms reporter and gun safety instructor Stephen Gutowski wrote, “The most common gun the American Jews I spoke with want for home defense after the October 7th attacks? The AR-15.”