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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israelis seek out gun ownership amid spike in Palestinian attacks |
| 2023-03-31 |
| [IsraelTimes] Minister announced plan to speed up licensing in wake of deadly shooting outside Jerusalem synagogue; gun range owner: ’Even those who didn’t want one realized they needed one’. On January 27, a Paleostinian rubbed out seven people outside a synagogue before being killed by police in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov. Israel’s police commissioner responded to the attack by calling on those eligible to carry a firearm to do so, and in the days that followed Ben-Gvir, head of the extreme-right Otzma Yehudit party, said he would speed up licensing. The synagogue attack was "an excellent example of the necessity and importance of civilians armed with guns," the National Security Ministry said, while lamenting a massive backlog in license applications. At the time, more than 17,000 applications were still being processed. Ben-Gvir said it was his "duty to expedite the process and dramatically cut the bureaucracy," ordering official working hours increased to boost monthly license clearances from 2,000 to 10,000. Former military officers were also exempted from requiring an interview as part of the process, a temporary measure which is set to expire in May. Attacks and security incidents traditionally increase interest in gun licenses, an Israeli official told AFP, without providing further details on the recent hike in new applications. |
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