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----- Original Message -----
From: "Boris Karpa" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: "Oleg Volk" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2004 6:05 PM
Subject: Revolution and Reality - an opinion from Israel
> Dear Sir/Lady!
> I am an Israeli Jew. I have read the article "Revolution and Reality: A
> Transcript and Analysis of Mark Koernke's "Time is Running Out."
> (http://www.adl.org/mwd/koernke.asp ) with great interest. As a Jew, I was
> startled and perplexed by your description of JPFO (Jews for the
> Preservation of Firearms Ownership). While no member of JPFO, I have
> personally spoken to Aaron Zellman and other activists at that group, and am
> familiar with their ideology. So the following quotes from "R&R" surprise
> me:
>
> 1)"This radical pro-gun group, which ironically consists mostly of
> non-Jews".
>
> How do you know that most JPFO members are not Jewish? Have you somehow
> acquired their membership lists?
>
>
> 2."Here are some of the provisions which were allegedly "based on" the Nazi
> law: felons could not own firearms; firearms dealers had to record
> purchases and sales; firearms for sporting purposes were defined, etc. In
> other words, the JPFO is trying retroactively to "Nazify" some of the most
> basic and reasonable aspects of firearms regulations. "
>
> Not really. In many countries, only VIOLENT felons are barred from
> possession of arms. Definitely such distinction was not thought reasonable
> neither in 1938 or in 1968. Moreover, many quite reasonable people still
> find firearms sales records objectionable. Who is to define "basic" and
> reasonable?
>
> But the most disturbing part is the "firearms for sporting purposes" part.
> As you know, the distinction between sporting and non-sporting arms is vague
> at best, and so every culture defines it differently (the British find
> hanguns totally "unsporting", even the olympic variety, while the Israelis
> have the same opinion of .22 rifles). A similarity in definition is to a
> degree a similarity in two nations approach to firearms.
>
> 3."Koernke also again raises fears of gun confiscation, calling the 1938 law
> "Nazi Germany's final gun confiscation law in which they went house to house
> for search and seizures." Actually, this appears never to have happened."
>
> In actual fact, on the day after Kristallnacht, an amenment was introduced
> banning Jews from weapons possession - and all weapons in Jewish property
> were confiscated on the same day.
>
> 4. You claim that the JPFO is an "extreme right" group. How so? What extreme
> right-wing views do they espouse (unless you count opposition to gun
> control)?
>
> Thank you very much for all answers,
> Boris Karpa,
> Bat-Yam, Israel
>
From: "Boris Karpa" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: "Oleg Volk" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2004 6:05 PM
Subject: Revolution and Reality - an opinion from Israel
> Dear Sir/Lady!
> I am an Israeli Jew. I have read the article "Revolution and Reality: A
> Transcript and Analysis of Mark Koernke's "Time is Running Out."
> (http://www.adl.org/mwd/koernke.asp ) with great interest. As a Jew, I was
> startled and perplexed by your description of JPFO (Jews for the
> Preservation of Firearms Ownership). While no member of JPFO, I have
> personally spoken to Aaron Zellman and other activists at that group, and am
> familiar with their ideology. So the following quotes from "R&R" surprise
> me:
>
> 1)"This radical pro-gun group, which ironically consists mostly of
> non-Jews".
>
> How do you know that most JPFO members are not Jewish? Have you somehow
> acquired their membership lists?
>
>
> 2."Here are some of the provisions which were allegedly "based on" the Nazi
> law: felons could not own firearms; firearms dealers had to record
> purchases and sales; firearms for sporting purposes were defined, etc. In
> other words, the JPFO is trying retroactively to "Nazify" some of the most
> basic and reasonable aspects of firearms regulations. "
>
> Not really. In many countries, only VIOLENT felons are barred from
> possession of arms. Definitely such distinction was not thought reasonable
> neither in 1938 or in 1968. Moreover, many quite reasonable people still
> find firearms sales records objectionable. Who is to define "basic" and
> reasonable?
>
> But the most disturbing part is the "firearms for sporting purposes" part.
> As you know, the distinction between sporting and non-sporting arms is vague
> at best, and so every culture defines it differently (the British find
> hanguns totally "unsporting", even the olympic variety, while the Israelis
> have the same opinion of .22 rifles). A similarity in definition is to a
> degree a similarity in two nations approach to firearms.
>
> 3."Koernke also again raises fears of gun confiscation, calling the 1938 law
> "Nazi Germany's final gun confiscation law in which they went house to house
> for search and seizures." Actually, this appears never to have happened."
>
> In actual fact, on the day after Kristallnacht, an amenment was introduced
> banning Jews from weapons possession - and all weapons in Jewish property
> were confiscated on the same day.
>
> 4. You claim that the JPFO is an "extreme right" group. How so? What extreme
> right-wing views do they espouse (unless you count opposition to gun
> control)?
>
> Thank you very much for all answers,
> Boris Karpa,
> Bat-Yam, Israel
>