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Part Six - The Freedom of the Citizen and Internal and External Security

Part One
Civil liberties and internal security (4/4)

The right to bear arms

The right to bear arms derives directly from the right to self-defense. Even when citizens delegate the right to exercise force to the state, they do not waive their fundamental right to protect their lives, the lives of their families, and the lives of those around them from immediate threats of violence. This is an inalienable right, if only because from the moment when the danger is revealed until security forces arrive at the scene, there is no one else to protect them.

When the state prevents citizens from possessing weapons for self-defense, it undermines this right. The state's argument is that this is done for our security, but it is not really. Those affected by the prohibition of carrying weapons are mainly law-abiding citizens. Criminals already have access to illegal weapons and have no fear of possessing them. Besides, criminals with violent backgrounds would be prohibited from holding licensed weapons in any case. In fact, if civilians are permitted to possess weapons for self-defense, they will be safer from criminals, who will have to think twice before robbing or breaking into a house in the dead of night due to the fear of encountering an armed civilian.

It is also hard to believe that the present prohibition stems from the fear that civilians will not use weapons responsibly. The prohibition applies today to the vast majority of IDF veterans as well, i.e., to persons who have at the age of 18, the State of Israel has already entrusted them with weapons and sometimes forced them to take them home with them during their military service. The state cannot rely on soldiers in the regular army and reserves to make reasoned decisions while they are serving its purposes and defending it, but not rely on them when they seek to exercise their right to defend themselves.

The state's desire to limit the ability of civilians to carry weapons for self-defense has nothing to do with public safety. The restrictions stem from the natural desire of the state to rule and control the lives of citizens and to maintain their dependence on it. Not for nothing do tyrants, when they come to power, rush to collect weapons from the citizens.

Zehut recognizes the right to carry weapons for self-defense as one of the basic human rights. The state is not the authority that gives a person the right to defend himself – it has only the authority to deny this right to someone who is a risk to society, intentionally or unintentionally.

As a first step towards implementing this principle, we will allow any military veteran without a history of violence and without known physical and mental limitations to obtain a license to carry weapons for self-defense, subject to the completion of a course in the use of a pistol. At the same time, we will formulate a plan to expand the permit from military veterans only to all Israeli citizens.

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