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Founder of Israeli NRA seeks to import American gun culture
By Raphael Ahren, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel News, guns, Shai Dromi 

While the gun lobby in the United States took a setback last week with the election of Barack Obama, who supports the ban of assault weapons, a group of Israeli-Americans are now trying to ease restrictions on gun ownership here in Israel. Modeled and named after the powerful but controversial Virginia-based National Rifle Association, it is unclear whether the Israeli NRA will be able to gather enough support to be in any way influential. Several experts have already voiced criticism of the group's agenda.

"You hear about mob shootings in Netanya, where innocent people get killed, you hear about people being attacked with knives, with guns, with bulldozers," said Joshua Moesch, who founded the group last week. "I think that having more responsible citizens out there with weapons is very important. The police can be the greatest in the world, but they can't be everywhere at the same time."

Under the banner of self defense, the Israeli NRA advocates "the right to carry a firearm for all law abiding, military-serving Israeli citizens," as well as the expansion of what is known as the Shai Dromi law, which allows anyone who kills or injures an intruder on his or her property to be absolved of criminal responsibility. Other group goals include gun safety, self-defense courses, promoting shooting as a sport and creating police athletic leagues.
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Moesch's first step was to create a Facebook group and a Web site. The 29-year-old Beit Shemesh resident told Anglo File he wants to first see how much support he can expect from the Israeli public before taking further action. If his group sees "a reasonable showing," the next move would be to register as a nonprofit organization and lobby to members of Knesset, he said.

Moesch, who immigrated to Israel from Vermont about six years ago, rejects the anti-gun lobby argument that more weapons would lead to greater violence. He counters by saying that compulsory army service makes Israeli society well acquainted with firearms, giving most people "a certain respect for guns." He adds, "People know in most cases when to use and when not to use them. We don't see many cases of off-duty soldiers getting into a fight in a club or something, using their guns to sort it out."

Yet it remains doubtful whether pro-gun advocacy will become as important in Israel as it is in the U.S. "The general trend to transplant American ideas to other countries is often not successful or very useful," said Gerald Steinberg, chairman of political studies at Bar Ilan University and an expert on American culture. The arguments put forward by the Israeli NRA are not convincing, he told Anglo File.

"We don't need a situation where hundreds of people shoot in all kinds of different directions in the case of a terror attack. That's the job of the police or the army," Steinberg said. He said that if more people carried guns the chances of more people getting hurt would be greater than the chance of neutralizing an attacker more quickly. "The last thing we want in Israel is an American gun culture," he added. "Israel has enough dangers, and making it easier for people on the street to carry guns is not what we need."

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      1.   stupid 22:21  |  Joey 14/11/08
      2.   Notice the racism 23:04  |  W 14/11/08
      3.   The Last thing Israel needs is the anti-Semitic and racist NRA 23:48  |  Rachel 14/11/08
      4.   Stupid # 1 23:53  |  Bill H. 14/11/08
      5.   Of course. Where else do people live in constant fear. Go for it 00:03  |  Jake 15/11/08
      6.   guns 00:09  |  terry 15/11/08
      7.   What a clever idea. It will give us oldies an edge. 01:15  |  Stephen. 15/11/08
      8.   #3 Rachel - If only you knew what you were 04:02  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/08
      9.   #2 Notice the ignorance 04:08  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/08
      10.   #1 Joey - Yes you are 04:14  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/08
      11.   #7 Stephen - You already have the edge 04:17  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/08
      12.   NRA is NOT anti-Semitic 04:25  |  Michal 15/11/08
      13.   NRA in Israel 04:40  |  Norman Gardner 15/11/08
      14.   Jini in a holster 05:29  |  Yaacob 15/11/08
      15.   Founder of Israeli NRA seeks to import American gun culture 06:00  |  martin list, m.d. 15/11/08
      16.   guns 07:31  |  moris 15/11/08
      17.   Yaacob - Guns are multi-puprose 07:33  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/08
      18.   #16 guns -moris? 08:07  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/08
      19.   So... Why not write a Constitution 08:47  |  Navy Vet 15/11/08
      20.   Guns and Israeli hot-headedness... 09:19  |  MarkC 15/11/08
      21.   #.11 Ben Jabo. 09:43  |  Stephen. 15/11/08
      22.   Fire arm education 10:26  |  Tony trenton 15/11/08
      23.   stephen 10:36  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 15/11/08
      24.   Attention, Israelis: You already HAVE a gun culture... 10:50  |  Kolk ha-Nevi`im 15/11/08
      25.   On a weekly basis ... 12:32  |  Axel 15/11/08
      26.   # 11 ben jabo 12:39  |  Axel 15/11/08
      27.   Guns for the Israeli public 12:43  |  Tony Trenton 15/11/08
      28.   #21 Stephen - Whatever will do the job 12:55  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/08
      29.   why "military-serving" 13:32  |  john 15/11/08
      30.   Israel`s Gun Laws Work 15:02  |  Michael 15/11/08
      31.   RE John#29 15:38  |  Mark 15/11/08
      32.   NRA in Israel 15:39  |  Critical Observer 15/11/08
      33.   People Who Think Being Helpless Will Make Them Loved 15:54  |  UsedToPostHere 15/11/08
      34.   Axel you`re correct, YOU ARE WRONG as usual 16:15  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/08
      35.   #29 john - it`s Military Serving or having served 16:21  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/08
      36.   Israeli NRA 17:13  |  weizmann 15/11/08
      37.   Psychologist give sexual therapy that these people benifit from! 17:16  |  Tom Lobo Meyer 15/11/08
      38.   Axel - I admire your consistentcy 17:22  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/08
      39.   #1. stupid 17:58  |  David 15/11/08
      40.   Michael, you`re out of touch 18:01  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/08
      41.   No. 9: Notice the hypocrisy 18:07  |  W 15/11/08
      42.   No. 8: NRA disinformation 18:16  |  W 15/11/08
      43.   Joshua Moesch Here 19:35  |  Joshua 15/11/08
      44.   IsraeliNRA.org is our Website 19:36  |  Joshua Moesch 15/11/08
      45.   Ben, perhaps you would like to read up on the NRA first 19:56  |  Rachel 15/11/08
      46.   Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership 20:30  |  A Sympathizer 15/11/08
      47.   NRA in Israel 20:34  |  VICTIMSof ARABTERROR 15/11/08
      48.   but they already got guns stupid 21:08  |  Sabra 15/11/08
      49.   Yaacob - sorry, ur wrong 22:29  |  netanya 15/11/08
      50.   Guns? Ok. Gun Culture? NO 23:15  |  Awake 15/11/08
      51.   You would think 01:24  |  felix 16/11/08
      52.   Israel imports the worst of American culture 02:58  |  MichaelF 16/11/08
      53.   #37 Rachel - I belong to NRA 06:16  |  * BEN JABO 16/11/08
      54.   #44 MichaelF - I go to gunshows 06:21  |  * BEN JABO 16/11/08
      55.   #33 W - A miracle, use used the same name 2x 06:27  |  * BEN JABO 16/11/08
      56.   #34 W - A miracle, you used the same name 2x 06:34  |  * BEN JABO 16/11/08
      57.   #42 Awake - some people gussy up their guns 06:38  |  * BEN JABO 16/11/08
      58.   Israeli NRA 08:12  |  Fiddleman 16/11/08
      59.   #53-2 Rachel - I`m still waiting 16:42  |  * BEN JABO 16/11/08
      60.   Achshav 16:50  |  Dovid 16/11/08
      61.   Where I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania 16:53  |  * BEN JABO 16/11/08
      62.   Be like `civilized` countries 18:44  |  AJMD 16/11/08
      63.   Guns and cars 20:50  |  Mark 5 16/11/08
      64.   michael from silver spring 21:31  |  ralpherus 16/11/08
      65.   It`s come to my attention 23:16  |  * BEN JABO 16/11/08
      66.   re: MichaelF 00:29  |  UsedToPostHere 17/11/08
      67.   re: W 00:35  |  UsedToPostHere 17/11/08
      68.   re: Stephen. 00:40  |  UsedToPostHere 17/11/08
      69.   BEN JABO - I like your persistence 01:45  |  TF Mountain 17/11/08
      70.   #63 Mark 5 - I like your post 03:06  |  * BEN JABO 17/11/08
      71.   #69 TF Mountain - your question can be answered 03:08  |  * BEN JABO 17/11/08
      72.   How foolish 05:40  |  Stephen Ray Hale 17/11/08
      73.   Gun culture not the problem 07:19  |  Mark 5 17/11/08
      74.   Founder of Israeli NRA seeks to import American gun culture 08:02  |  Ephram 17/11/08
      75.   hand Guns In Israel 06:35  |  Tony Trenton 19/11/08
      76.   Gun ownership responsibility 07:06  |  Tony Trenton 19/11/08
      77.   john-ignorance or slander? 23:34  |  nina 22/11/08
      78.   Moral Support 07:06  |  Matthew T. Oakey 17/12/08
      79.   What is Israel _always_ had NRA 15:05  |  fsilber 17/12/08
      80.   Gun Rights are a Birthright 09:00  |  Guy Greenwood 11/05/09
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