The National Security Committee today (Tuesday) approved an initiative by the Ministry of National Security to further ease the examinations for issuing a license to carry weapons. Following the concessions that were approved, citizens who did not serve in the army but did at least two years of national or civil service will be able to obtain a license to carry a weapon from the age of 21 or older, and not from the age of 27 as was the case in the regulations until today. It was also decided that anyone who enlisted in the army before 1999 and underwent combat training would be eligible – as long as 20 years had not passed since his release from regular service or reserve service. For comparison, in the last weapons reform initiated in 2018 by the former Minister of Internal Security, Gilad Erdan, the threshold condition for obtaining a weapons license was full military service and 07 rifle training.
The regulations will be added to the weapons reform passed by Ben Gabir on October 18 last year and entered into force only two weeks after the outbreak of the war. The reform included far-reaching relaxations in the threshold conditions for issuing a firearms license, so that every citizen who underwent 03 rifle training in the last twenty years became eligible. Hundreds of thousands of potential citizens entered the list of those eligible for a gun license Following the reform, and above More than 300,000 applications have been submitted in 2023 alone. According to the data of the Ministry of National Security that were transferred to the “Hottest Place” request last monthsince the events of October 7, approximately 172,550 new licenses for firearms have been approved. This means that as of that month there were more than 292,000 citizens in Israel who hold a firearms license.
The fact that the new regulations also include national or civilian service payers from the age of 21 only, and not at the age of 27 as was the case in the reform until today, adds tens of thousands more eligible persons without any military or professional training, and without any security background. Another meaning is the creation of a clear and unequivocal distinction between Jewish residents, who are required to perform mandatory national or civil service in Israel, and Muslim, Christian and other non-Jewish residents who are not obligated to enlist according to law. At the same time, in contrast, the new tests create a significant relief for the servants in the national and civil service – many of whom come from the religious sector.
Tracking “The Hottest Place”:
“The whole discussion is whether a person who did civil service in a welfare organization, who did not carry a weapon, did not go through military service, and did not live in a sefir that has rules for gun safety – can he receive a weapon at the age of 21 without there being an element of danger,” he asked at the committee’s hearing this morning. As Gilad Kriv, and also answered immediately – “This is a criminal irresponsibility on your part. Give people at the age of 21 who have never been involved in the culture of careful use of weapons? It is a culture of promiscuity. There is political pressure here from a very corrupt sector that does not send a large part of its young men to military service, but to national service.’
According to the firearms regulations, the firearms license may be issued by a graduate of the Israel Defense Forces who holds a combat certificate, but the IDF began issuing combat certificates only in 1999. , and he has training at the rifle level and a profession as a fighter as determined by the Israel Defense Forces, to submit an application and receive a license for firearms,” the explanation for the current amendment reads. At the same time, the new regulations made it clear that a firearms license will not be granted according to this distinction to those who do not hold a license at the time of submitting the application, or if more than 20 years have passed since the date of the license applicant’s release from regular service or from active reserve service.
In the explanatory notes to the amendment, it is claimed that in the previous version “another option was accidentally omitted”, which allows those who have completed national service or civilian national service to submit an application for a firearms license from the age of 21, and not from the age of 27 as stipulated in the previous regulations. At the hearing, Lera Zinman, chairwoman of the organization Families of the Murdered and Murdered, asked to refute the claim that the age issue is a “mistake.” Zinman quoted the former head of the Firearms Division, Israel Avisher, who spoke on the issue in the debate in which the reform was passed a year ago. “We oppose lowering the age “Absolutely,” he said. “There is a rationale that clearly accompanies us and it is supported by the position of the security agencies, with the recommendation of both the Shin Bet and the Israel Police.”
Tens of thousands of unskilled young people
Ben Gvir’s weapons reform significantly eased the process of receiving weapons, with Exemption from face-to-face interviews For those who have undergone rifle training 03 or higher and without any dependence on active reserve service. according to the lawa license for a personal weapon will only be accepted for those 21 years of age or older, however, the Minister may, with the approval of the National Security Committee of the Knesset, determine the types of activities or circumstances in which the license will be granted to a person who has turned 18, but has not yet turned 21.
Along with the reliefs, throughout the last year significant deficiencies in the application examination procedure have also emerged, with a lack of In transferring critical data about the applicants from the Ministry of Welfare and National Insuranceand boycotting the Ministry of Health from the discussions Because of a loss prevention questionnaire which added to the procedure for issuing the license. From the discussion held today, it appears that a year after the introduction of the reform and despite repeated discussions in the State Audit Committee – there is still no interface between the Ministry of Welfare and National Insurance and the Firearms Licensing Division.
Since October 7 last year, the Firearms Licensing Division has received 355,000 applications for firearms licenses. In November, the number was the same as the number of applications submitted in the last 20 years
The head of the Firearms Licensing Division, David Weizman, told the hearing that since October 7 of last year, the division has received 355,000 new applications for the issuance of a firearms license. According to the Ministry of National Security data published in November, at that time the number of applications was 236 thousand, this is the same number as the number of applications submitted in the 20 years prior to October 7, 2023. He also added that the department issued approximately 182 thousand conditional approvals (new licenses), which confirm that the applicant has passed the required regulation and is allowed to go to the range for practical training. Weizman also noted that approximately 60,000 applications are still awaiting processing and 111,000 applications have been rejected.
Weizman took office after the former head of the Firearms Division, Israel Avisher, resigned from his position following the announcement that Minister Ben Gabir’s confidants Intervene in the work of the wing and approve weapons licenses Contrary to the law and without having undergone appropriate training, as well as national service girls who also approved weapons licenses.
“A potential addition of tens of thousands of young men and women who have not yet matured mentally, who belong to a group that is not skilled in using firearms”
“A time of emergency does not justify skipping the requirements for proven competence and skill of gun owners, and does not justify bypassing safety stones and primary brakes designed to protect the civilian population in Israel – among others women in circles of violence, children and vulnerable population groups,” reads the opinion of the “The Gun on The kitchen table’, which works to reduce the spread of weapons and the violence that stems from them. “This is a potential addition of tens of thousands of young men and women who have not yet matured mentally or sufficiently, who belong to a group that is not skilled in operating firearms and lacks the backbone of organizations that rely on briefings and escorts like in the army, which increases the risk over a contribution to security.”
ظهرت في الأصل على shakuf.co.il