After Friday’s mass public shooting in Israel that left seven people dead, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced: “Firearm licensing will be expedited and expanded in order to enable thousands of additional citizens to carry weapons.”
By contrast, after the three public shootings over the last two weekends in California, the verdict from Democrats is that we need even more gun control laws. President Joe Biden and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., used the attacks to call for a renewed federal assault weapons ban. California’s other Democrat senator, Alex Padilla, called for expanded federal background checks on gun purchases.
California already has the strictest gun control laws in the country, and it has both of those laws and many more. In contrast to Israel and almost all the rest of the United States, concealed handgun permits have been almost impossible to get in the counties where California’s attacks occurred. In Los Angeles County, where two of the attacks occurred, there is only one permit for every 5,660 adults. In San Mateo County, where another attack occurred, there is one permit per every 24,630 adults. By contrast, in the 43 right-to-carry states, there is one permit holder for every nine people.
When Americans are allowed to carry permitted concealed handguns, they stop about half the active shooting attacks in the U.S.
Evaluating the Current Approach
Before doubling down on yet more gun control and making the rest of the country like California, let’s first ask ourselves how the current approach has worked out. Even some Democrats in
