Violent Attacks Fuel Rapid Growth at Jewish Gun Clubs

California firearms instructor Alex Dovegalvesky remembers the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack in southern Israel as the day his phone rang nonstop.

“I got more phone calls than I did in my entire life,” Dovegalevsky told The Epoch Times.

Members of Southern California’s Jewish community wanted to know how to get a firearms permit or a handgun for self defense.

For many, it would be a first-time purchase. Others wanted to join Dovegalevsky’s gun club, Guns N’ Moses, in San Diego to learn to shoot proficiently.

“Nobody wants to become a victim,” Dovegalevsky said. “Everybody understands that when somebody comes at you, you need more than goodwill to survive it.”

Dovegalevsky described the surge in interest as inevitable after such a tragedy, sparking a wave of Jewish gun ownership and gun club participation in the months that followed.

He said the surge grew even stronger several weeks ago, after the mass shooting that claimed 15 lives at a Jewish gathering on Sydney’s Bondi Beach in Australia on Dec. 14, 2025.

“Reactionary people have reacted,” Dovegalevsky said.

Dovegalevsky, who was born in the former Soviet Union, took the helm of Guns N’ Moses in 2018 and has since guided more than 1,000 people through their training.

“Compared to other groups, we’ve definitely taken it a lot more seriously,” he said.

“Hundreds of Jews have trained with my club. Many have gone on to get concealed carry permits or just become gun owners.”

Jewish shooting clubs with memorable names such as Lox & Loaded and Bullets and Bagels have also come together in response to a rise in anti-Semitism across the United States.

Doris Wise, founder of Jews Can Shoot, has seen a significant and “obvious increase” in gun ownership and firearms training among Jews.

“This trend accelerated sharply after Oct. 7, 2023, alongside the surge in anti-Semitic rhetoric, incidents, and violence, and it has continued rising into 2026,” Wise told The Epoch Times.

“That said, many Jews have been armed for years but deliberately kept a low profile, consistent with the ‘gray man’ approach common in concealed carry.”

This quiet and unobtrusive approach aligns with Jewish history, Wise said. Standing out was often dangerous, and blending in was necessary for survival.

“Jews have learned, often the hard way, that we are our own first line of defense,” Wise said. “While armed security at synagogues and Jewish events is an important deterrent, our individual security cannot be outsourced.”

Wise pointed out that when violence erupts, it is often up to each person to act as their own first and only line of defense. This truth is not only a matter of practicality but also of law.

New York City, home to 960,000 Jewish residents—the largest community outside Israel—reported that anti-Semitic acts made up 54 percent of all hate crimes in 2024 and 62 percent in 2025, according to the Mayor’s Office to Combat Anti-Semitism.

Out of 641 reported hate crimes, 345 targeted members of the Jewish community.

Even with New York City’s strict gun laws, Jewish gun store owner and firearms instructor Michael Bergida has watched gun sales skyrocket among both Jews and non-Jews.

In 2025, Bergida launched Samson Armory, marking Brooklyn’s first new gun store to open its doors in more than half a century.

During the first few months, his sales tripled, he said.

“It’s been insane. If we were to have this conversation three years ago, I would have bet that the community never would have been into guns,” Bergida told The Epoch Times. “That whole mindset has really changed after Oct. 7.”

“All I know is, dark times are ahead. I really hope it’s going to get better at a certain point.”

On May 13, 2025, New York City Mayor Eric Adams established the Mayor’s Office to Combat Anti-Semitism, made up of 35 agencies.

Along with rising verbal and physical assaults against Jews, the election of socialist Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s mayor has many Jews on edge, Bergida said.

Bergida said the arrival of thousands of illegal immigrants has coincided with the rise in anti-Semitism.

“It’s been getting pretty bad here. Jews learned their lesson in the Holocaust that the only thing stopping a bad guy with a gun is to be a good guy with a gun.”

Handguns such as Glocks and Sig Sauers are among his top-selling firearms.

Bergida pointed out that owning a handgun is just the beginning; mastering its safe use is a whole different skill.

For this reason, proper training and understanding of the law are vital.

“In New York, we have pretty much a duty to retreat. So [firing a weapon] is the last line of defense unless your life is in imminent danger or if you don’t have any way of escaping. That’s the only time you’re allowed to use your gun,” Bergida said.

In 2024, Americans purchased about 16.1 million firearms, a 3.4 percent drop from 2023, according to SafeHome.org.

In the first four months of 2025, just over 5.2 million guns were sold, or about 1.32 million each month.

If that pace holds, 2025 will end with roughly 15.5 million gun sales, a 3.8 percent drop from 2024 totals. “This mirrors the previous year’s rate of decreasing sales,” the site added.

Dovegalevsky said incidents in the past few years have been a wake-up call for many in the Jewish community.

On April 27, 2019, a man armed with an AR-15 rifle entered the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway near San Diego. He shot and killed one woman and wounded three others, including the rabbi.

“We had an influx after a Pittsburgh shooting” on Oct. 27, 2018. “We had a big influx after the Poway shooting. But the biggest one happened after Oct. 7,” he said.

A 2005 study by the American Jewish Committee found that Jewish gun ownership in the United States has traditionally been low.

The study showed a clear contrast: 10 percent of Jews owned guns, compared to 26 percent of non-Jews. Thirteen percent of Jewish households reported having firearms.

Dovegalevsky notes that conservative Jews have long stood behind the Second Amendment.

Meanwhile, as pandemic lockdowns began in 2020 and Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation, a rising tide of anti-Semitism sparked newfound interest in gun ownership among those with left-leaning beliefs.

“I have people who used to be outspokenly against civilian gun ownership” who have become club members and gun owners, Dovegalevsky said.

Dovegalevsky said Guns N’ Moses prefers to train outdoors because it gives participants more space to practise.

“I will give them scenarios where they have to drop from their holster, where they have to engage, where they have to move, where they have to run away or move in or get off,” Dovegalevsky said.

Club members come from many different backgrounds and jobs, and several are seniors in their 70s.

“I’m obsessed with safety. I make everybody else obsessed with safety. When people are safe, they make the right decisions. They’re going to be safe while learning their fundamentals,” Dovegalevsky said.

“That’s on me.”

Wise said that, with anti-Semitic incidents increasing, responsible gun ownership and proper training are “not a theoretical discussion.”

She said armed self defense gives a level of protection that passive measures alone cannot provide when someone faces an attacker who means harm.

“History repeatedly shows that disarmed populations are more vulnerable, and Jews know this lesson better than most,” Wise said.

Wise said that while almost all news stories focus on Orthodox Jews, most American Jews do not follow religious practices.

“I am one of those non-Orthodox Jews who have been armed and trained for years, long before the current events that are motivating many Jews to take responsibility for their own security and safety,” Wise said.

Wise said there’s no doubt that the recent rise in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence has led to more interest in guns and self-defense among both Orthodox and non-Orthodox communities.

However, Jewish gun ownership in America is much broader and more established than most news stories suggest, she said.

Dovegalevsky said he tries to stay positive, but says, “the situation is definitely going to get worse.

“This is not fear speaking. This is not one person’s opinion,” he said.

“When they tell you they wish to kill you, believe them.”