The inability to hunt is probably part of why so few of us are pro gun. Another aspect is that for generations we were forbidden by the governments we lived under to own guns, yet our non-Jewish neighbors could (and often used them against us). So, since most gun people learn it from their parents, there was no gun tradition for us to hand down. Further, for many Jews, some still alive today, others learned from their parents and grandparents, the only personal association they had with guns is of them being used against us. My own great grandmother came over here to live with her sister after a progrom (with guns) in Russia killed the rest of her family and destroyed most of her villiage in the early 20th century. People remember such things, and their children remember hearing of them, and it is human nature to NOT think "gee, if we only had a gun" but rather to think "things would be so much better if they didn't have guns".
Dave, where do you go? I'd love to meet these guys, maybe get a Jewish shooting club going? I know a handful of Orthodox shooters in the Baltimore community.
I don't want to get too into halacha (Jewish Law) here, but for all practical purposes hunting is pretty much forbidden even D'orisa (from Hashem) even if technically you may be right that it is d'rabbanan. You have to cut a very specific artery just right in order for a kill to be kosher with a blade that is very exacting in its sharpness. Theoretically, it would be possible for a nearly unhumanly good shooter with a bow and an arrow sharpened to very exacting tolerances to do it, and that is how a very small handful of people in history were able to hunt and still be in the bounds of halacha. For just about all people though, this would be impossible (it would take a very lucky shot, and a repeat performance wouldn't be possible).
Deer. You can actually buy farm raised and properly schected venison, but it is very expensive. I would guess that Elk and Moose have cleft hooves and chew their cud as well.
Oleg Volk said:
It will help me better interact with Jews on this topic. Thanks!
You do realize that a lawyer kept in the home is 43 times more likely to sue you or a loved one than an intruder.
If he is a younger man and shows any signs of mental flexibility, you might get some literature from the JPFO (Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership) and ask him to read it.
Reform differs from orthodox in many ways, but either way you look at it there is no prohibition anywhere regarding the ownership of firearms. In fact there are sometimes rules that point to the contrary in Jewish law. There is an idea and commandment called Pikuach Nefesh. This is basicly that one can do anything (except for idol worship, illicit sexual relations, and murder) in order to save one's life. That is why in Israel, even among the "Ultra Orthodox" community, guns are carried to services. (Note that services are also had on the Sabbath where special rules apply.) Normally, if there is no "need" for a gun, say within a secure compound, a Jew would be forbidden to carry things such as firearms that create fire on the Sabbath. In most places, due to anti-semetism and or high crime, it would be within Jewish law to carry a gun on the Sabbath or any other day. Other that the Sabbath or special holidays there is not even a question regarding the allowability (new word?) of owning or carrying any sort of weapon. (Also note that Jewish law would require that unless one is in danger of their life, they would be required to follow the law of the land and have a CCP or any other paper work needed to carry)
