Gun Control in America Will Require Major Changes

With two recent shooting attacks in the United States, twenty-six people killed in Connecticut and four in Pennsylvania, in barely a week, the calls for gun control are getting louder. 

It won't be easy to enforce gun control laws without major changes in American life.

In Israel we have strict gun control laws.  Even though a larger percentage of the Israeli population learn how to use a gun when in the army, very few civilians actually own guns.  And to own a gun in Israel isn't simple.  Click here for the Hebrew government's link.  You need a license from the police to buy a weapon. 

• You have to prove there's a need to own a private weapon. 
• You have to know how to shoot and prove it, too. 
• You must be literate in Hebrew.
• You must bring in medical certification that you are mentally and physically healthy.
• You must be over twenty-one if an IDF veteran and even older if not.
• The gun license is renewed, for a fee of course, every three years.  The procedure includes a shooting test.
• And if the gun is to be kept at home, it must be in a special safe.  It in Israel it is forbidden to have guns, rifles etc hanging on the walls as decorations.

After a gun owner dies, the police contact the family, confiscate the weapon and instruct the family to sell it.  Now, you may be wondering, how does the police know that someone has died*.  All Israelis have identity numbers.  These numbers are more important than American Social Security Numbers.  At the age of sixteen, Israelis must go to the Ministry of the Interior to apply for a Te'udat Zehut, Identity Card.  These are photo-identity cards.  If one doesn't look like his/her photo, then the card, because of age, it must be changed.  We use these numbers for everything imaginable.  They are on our bank accounts, registering for tests, medical issues, pensions, etc. 

And we show our Identity Cards to vote.  We are assigned to a voting station according to the address on our ID.  For those who actually live someplace else, like my single kids, they can get free bus passes from where they live to the location they vote.  Voter fraud is harder to pull off in Israel because of this law.

For the United States Government to really be effective in restricting gun ownership, they will need to institute a system like we have in Israel.  Without required identity cards, and you can use the Social Security Number, which already exists, it will be too hard to identify and keep track of people.  These sorts of changes will take many, many years.  Are Americans really willing to do what it takes to make these changes or do they prefer to see guns owned and used by those who abuse them and murder others?

*Apparently the police keep track of the ID numbers of weapons holders and are notified when the person dies.