A growing number of American Jews are taking courses on firearm safety and going to shooting ranges around the country as they fear for their safety following Hamas’ attack on Israel.
More Jewish customers have been buying guns amid the rise of antisemitism following the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, according to David Kowalsky, who owns the Florida Gun Store in Hollywood, Fla.
“We’ve definitely seen a tremendous increase in religious Jewish people, Orthodox people purchasing firearms,” Kowalsky told NBC News.
“I’ve seen a surge in individual training as well as group training.”
Many of those Kowalsky and other firearms instructors throughout the country have been teaching have never picked up a gun before, including many women. Some have even spoken in favor of gun control.
“These are mothers, teachers, the majority of them are mostly people who have never interacted with firearms or thought about owning them,” Kowalsky said.
“There’s a safety concern,” he said. “I think people are nervous about what’s going on and what can happen.”
Among those seeking out guns is Henya Chein, who attended a gun safety seminar at her synagogue in Florida last week and went on to attend a one-on-one session at a local shooting range.
She said she has always been afraid of guns, but felt “forced to do it because Jewish people are not safe anywhere now.”
Endi Tennenhaus, a preschool director and mother of seven in Hollywood, Florida, also helped organize a gun safety training for women at her synagogue.
Her husband, who serves as the rabbi of the congregation, had already organized a men’s group to go to a local shooting range.
“I said, ‘What about the women? I’m sure some of the women would love to do that as well,” Tennenhaus told NBC News.
“If all of our husbands are buying guns, we want to make sure we also know [how] to use them and also be able to protect our children and be able to keep guns safe in their homes.”
Tennenhaus said about 25 to 30 women attended the introductory class, and a shooting range session is scheduled for next week.
An unidentified 41-year-old woman in Miami Beach told NBC News she is pro-gun control and had no desire to ever pick up a gun.
But she decided to sign up for a gun training session after receiving death threats from unknown accounts on Instagram, where she had previously posted about being Jewish.
Some contained graphic images of dead bodies, she said.
“It’s not like, ‘Hey, I’m proud and happy and want to do this,’” said the woman, who wished to remain anonymous for her family’s safety. “I have no choice, it’s a very sad thing.”
The rise in American Jews buying guns and seeking out gun safety courses is not just limited to Florida.
In Los Angeles, California, Rabbi Yossi Eilfort said the nonprofit he runs to provide classes and firearm training to the Jewish community has received more than 600 calls in the past week.
And Danniel Lombard, a Chicago police officer who runs DAVAD Civilian Defense, a firearms training company, said he has seen a massive uptick in interest from the local Jewish community, and will “definitely” add more classes to meet the demand.
Meanwhile, David Prince, who runs the Eagle Gun Range in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, said demand at his two locations has skyrocketed 300% since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel.
“It’s been a really big change these last three or four days,” he told WFAA. “The people coming in and saying they are scared for their lives, because of their religion they are expecting to be attacked.”
The uptick in gun sales and training lessons marks a change for the American Jewish community, Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran New York-based political strategist and Orthodox rabbi, told NBC News.
“The majority of Jews in the country historically have been liberal on the left, pro-gun reform, pro-gun control, opposed to personal gun ownership,” he said, claiming: “Jews with guns were always seen as an odd event.”
But now, he said, it seems the long-held belief that the US is “one place in the world where Jews were safe, is coming to an end.”
Since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, there have been 107 recorded antisemitic incidents across the US, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
It also found that there were 347 messages on Telegram from extremists calling for violence against Jews, Israelis and Zionists in just the first 18 hours after Hamas’ surprise attack — up approximately 488% from just the day before.
