An Orthodox Jewish gun club takes aim at NY Gov. Hochul’s new gun control package
In the heavily Orthodox hamlet of Monsey in upstate New York, a Jewish gun owner is threatening a lawsuit to block Gov. Kathy Hochul’s efforts to limit where guns can be carried.
Tzvi Waldman, who is Orthodox and the founder of the New York State Jewish Gun Club (NYS-JGC) in Rockland County, told the New York Jewish Week that he plans to fight Hochul’s gun legislation, calling it unconstitutional.
“What the governor did in New York State flies in the face against any logic,” Waldman said. “For a shul not to have the ability for people to carry arms is ridiculous.”
On July 1, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a New York law tightly limiting who may carry a concealed weapon, Hochul signed legislation that bans people from carrying guns in places of business, including houses of worship, unless they put up a sign explicitly stating that guns are welcome there.
Waldman contends that by making places of business put up signs about guns, it is forcing them to declare their political identity. “People want to protect themselves,” he said. “This is not helping our political divisiveness. It’s just going to accelerate that in this country. It’s only going to cause more problems for businesses.”
Hochul’s bill was absolutely an act of malicious compliance that voided the SCOTUS decision.
I hope the New York State Jewish Gun Club wins for several reasons.
I support gun rights.
Also, Hochul is a Jew hater and Andrew Cuomo, who she succeeded as governor, was also a Jew hater who abused the Orthodox. If any group in New York to kick the shit out of the governor, it’s the Orthodox community.
Among the majority of Jews who are not Orthodox, support for gun control is widespread. The Reform and Conservative movements, the network of Jewish federations and the non-denominational Jewish Council for Public Affairs have all passed resolutions in favor of tight gun safety laws.
This is a big fucking problem that I will never understand.
Gun control has never, not once, ever helped the Jewish community. Yet the majority of the Jewish community hangs onto that idea.
This is one of the reasons I have a hard time finding a Synagogue.
I refuse to step into a Synagogue unless I’m packing.
For high holidays, I’m dressed like Noah MacManus in a Yarmakule.
But too many Synagogues have a “no guns allowed” sign on the door. Might as well post a big fucking sign “these Jews won’t shoot back.”
The last few years have demonstrated just how much the Jewish community needs to protect itself.
Best of luck to the NY Jewish Gun Club. I hope they kick Hochul’s ass in court.
NY’s new law very literally fails Joe Huffman’s “Jews in the Attic” test.
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For those who don’t want to click through, it’s one question: “Will this law make it difficult or impossible to protect innocent life from a government intent on their imprisonment or death?” If so, it must be opposed, no further discussion needed.
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Interestingly, it applies to all laws, not just gun laws. Any law that makes it difficult or impossible for the targeted group(s) to blend into society, to meet privately amongst themselves, to seek business or services they need, to travel to other areas, etc. — in short, to live under oppressive government or NGO authority — fails the test.
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And as government agencies increasingly use things like credit/debit card purchase records (and arbitrary limits to cash availability and transactions), utility consumption records, publicly-available aerial/satellite and ground photos (think: Google Maps, Google Earth, Apple Maps, etc.) of private property, and social media connections and posts to delve into everyone’s private lives, more and more laws fail the test even where they might not have before the government had (or gave themselves) access to all these “tools”.
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Learn the test, use it, and encourage your friends to use it.