As more Jews acquire guns, a Jewish security group urges stronger regulations for synagogues
The Secure Community Network’s guidance responds to an apparent surge in Jewish gun ownership since Oct. 7
Lox & Loaded members learn how to use firearms at a shooting range. Courtesy of Courtesy Lox & Loaded
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(JTA) — The Jewish mother in Cleveland was always uncomfortable with guns and never imagined owning one herself — but that was before Oct. 7.
After Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel spurred a surge in antisemitism, the 53-year-old mother of teenaged twins was so frightened by the prospect of danger for her family that she joined a local Jewish gun club. After gaining comfort in handling firearms, she bought one that she now keeps, loaded, in a safe next to her bed. She feels ready to protect her family if she needs to.
“It’s unfortunately just a different world today than it was,” said the mother, who asked to remain anonymous to protect details of her family’s security situation. “Everyone always says, ‘never again is now,’ which is true, but never again also means being ready because of what’s going on in the world today.”
The mother got her training through Lox & Loaded, a Jewish firearms club that first set up shop in Chicago earlier this year and already has chapters in 15 cities around the country, including in Florida, Texas, Illinois, Michigan and New York. Over 1,000 people are involved, according to the group.
Jews have historically been one of the least gun-owning demographic groups in the United States. But while hard data about changes in gun ownership among Jews is scant, Lox & Loaded’s rapid growth is one of several signals that more Jews may be packing heat in the wake of Oct. 7.
Among the others: surging applications for gun permits in some areas with many Jews (fueled as well by a sweeping 2022 Supreme Court ruling striking down New York’s gun rules), calls to synagogues about their gun policies and at least one prominent Jewish influencer, New York City’s Lizzy Savetsky, posting a call to arms from a shooting range.
Savetsky’s post came shortly after the deadly shooting of two Israeli embassy workers in Washington D.C. Soon after, a firebombing attack on a demonstration for the release of the hostages in Boulder, Colorado, killed one Jewish woman and injured several others, part of what watchdogs say is a record number of antisemitic incidents.
“It’s open hunting season on Jews,” Savetsky, a right-wing pro-Israel influencer, wrote in the post to her nearly 500,000 followers. “Nobody is coming to save us. Wake up. Arm up. Responsibly. This is not about being cool or tough; it’s about survival.”
The situation has grown so intense that the Secure Community Network, an organization that coordinates security for Jewish institutions nationwide, has published new recommendations for synagogues on how to handle armed congregants. The group is urging synagogues to allow congregants to carry weapons only if they are part of an “organized, vetted, and well-regulated safety and security team” — not as a matter of personal protection only.
“We are saying that if a facility is going to allow individuals into the facility carrying firearms, that it is critical they do it in a well structured, well coordinated, well thought-out way, given the implications,” Michael Masters, the group’s CEO and national director, said in an interview.
“The question for us really gets to the idea of having a civilian equipped with a lethal weapon step into what is potentially a dynamic tactical situation in an often crowded environment where you are required to act with precision and diligence, potentially taking a human life, while not inadvertently injuring innocent individuals,” he said, adding that people with far more training make mistakes. “Most officer-involved shootings, on average, roughly 70% of the shots are missed.”
In addition to the possibility of shooting of unintended targets in a crisis, the risks of poorly managed firearms include unnecessary escalation of conflicts and accidental shootings when there is no risk to safety. While there have been widely publicized examples of personal guns being used to end deadly violence against Jews, particularly in Israel, where gun ownership surged after Oct. 7, data shows that personal guns in the United States are far more likely to kill children in accidents or their owners by suicide than to fend off attackers. Researchers have also found that owning a gun makes individuals more likely to be shot to death in confrontations.
But advocates for responsible gun ownership say those risks can be managed with careful training and practices. SCN’s new guidance, which was developed with input from nearly two dozen security directors from local Jewish Federations chapters, clergy, homeland security officials and current and former law enforcement, says management of synagogue security teams is essential.
The teams, the guidance says, should be established under the “oversight of synagogue leadership, led by a designated team leader, and governed by detailed, written policies” governing who can join, how they are vetted and trained, and how the groups coordinate with law enforcement. Training should be ongoing, SCN says, and “use-of-force protocols” should be clear to all.
The goal is to prevent situations where congregants reach for guns without coordination, according to Masters, who said the question of whether to allow firearms in houses of worship had been raised “in nearly every meeting with every group of stakeholders, from clergy to lay leadership to different institutions.” (In addition to practical concerns, carrying weapons in synagogues can also present challenges related to Jewish law.)
Following the SCN’s guidance and limiting guns to security team members would be a change for some Jewish communities where guns are present.
At one Conservative synagogue in Texas, which requested not to be named to keep its policies private, a safety and security advisory committee created three years ago developed guidelines allowing both visitors and congregants to carry firearms.
“Our basic policy right now is that regardless of whether someone is a member or a visitor to the shul, if they have a license to carry, and security doesn’t overrule this by virtue of their discernment, then someone with a license to carry can carry a weapon concealed into our premises,” said a member of the congregation’s executive team.
Congregants are not required to register whether they are concealed carrying on the synagogue’s premises, said the team member, who said a “small handful” did and that there had been a slight uptick in recent years. Recently, a Hebrew school parent reached out to ask whether he could bring his gun to the campus.
The team member said he had mixed feelings about the presence of guns at the synagogue, where a host of other security practices are in place.
“It’d be one thing if we didn’t have paid professionals armed at all of our services and events, but we do, and so some would say there’s less of a need for congregants even with licenses to carry concealed,” he said. “But obviously, many of those same people feel very deep constitutional conviction that they have the right to do so, and obviously want to protect themselves and the ones they love in the event of a situation.”
For the director of the Shaloh House Jewish Day School in Boston, Rabbi Dan Rodkin, arming congregants has long been a standard part of his security strategy. In 2019, Rodkin told the public radio station WBUR that asking congregants to consider arming themselves had become a “necessity.”
“Jewish people should not be a soft target,” said Rodkin. “Everyone needs to know that we are prepared and we defend ourselves, and I very much encourage Jewish congregations everywhere in America, always as legally possible to train themselves and to, ideally, coordinate in groups.”
Two years later, when a Chabad emissary was stabbed outside of Shaloh House, Rodkin said more people in his community had become interested in arming themselves. There was no civilian response, and police arrested the alleged attacker shortly afterwards.
“Overall people understand the importance of protecting themselves,” said Rodkin. “I wish I can say something else, that we are all about praying, about peace and trust in Hashem, which we are, but you know, we need to do everything possible.”
While Masters said discussions about armed congregants had been going on for “decades,” the conversation in the Jewish community had accelerated in recent years.
“We get this question consistently across the community. Many of our professionals, many community members, have seen it with the increase in sort of ‘lox and bagel’ shoots or similar events occurring within the community,” he said.
Some Jewish gun clubs have sought to play a role in loosening gun regulations. In the heavily Orthodox hamlet of Monsey in upstate New York, the New York State Jewish Gun Club in 2022 unsuccessfully sued to block the governor’s decree that guns can be carried into houses of worship only in narrow circumstances.
“For a shul not to have the ability for people to carry arms is ridiculous,” founder Tzvi Waldman said at the time.
Others are focused purely on personal use. At Bullets & Bagels, a gun club in Southern California founded by a retired mohel named Fred Kogen in 2013, membership has grown by around 20% to 1,000 members since Oct. 7.
Roberta Tarnove, a Bullets & Bagels member, told Hadassah Magazine earlier this year that she had asked her rabbi to be allowed to carry her gun to her Reform synagogue after Oct. 7.
“I don’t love carrying a gun all the time. It’s not my lifestyle. I don’t like to live that way,” said Tarnove, a self-described political progressive in her 60s. But she said about her family, “I wanted to be able to defend them, so I did bring a gun with me to shul.”
Kogen said his club’s mission predates the current climate of fear. “We do offer defensive training, but it’s not the underlying focus of the club,” he said in an interview. “Our philosophy is, if you’re interested in learning about shooting, we will provide a safe, supportive environment to learn to shoot, to enhance your skills, be it defensively or you simply like to shoot, because we started before there was such a concern about having to defend ourselves.”
At an event this weekend, Kogen said Bullets & Bagels is hosting a training about how to properly use concealed carry permits.
“That’s very popular right now, because that way you carry a firearm and that can protect yourself, not just in shul, but anywhere,” he said.
At Lox & Loaded, local chapters organize demonstrations and trainings at gun ranges and teach participants about a host of gun ownership skills, including how to obtain concealed carry permits.
“We help them see everything through from ammunition to appropriate storage to how to train to getting carry and concealed weapons licenses that they’d like,” said a spokesperson for Lox & Loaded who wished to remain anonymous for fear of harassment.
A CBS News report about the group last month highlighted several members who said, like the Cleveland mother, that they had always opposed personal guns until Oct. 7. “I think people that were in liberal households, or weren’t accustomed to firearms, are realizing that the police cannot be at every street corner and every event,” Gayle Perlstein, the group’s COO, told the outlet.
The spokesperson said Lox & Loaded supports synagogues adopting clear policies to make it safe for congregants to bring firearms into synagogues.
“We hope that institutions will consider putting into play policies that allow for congregants and attendees to carry firearms, but it has to be a concerted effort, and it has to be with those who are properly trained,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the group recommends that participants do “as much training as possible” and emphasized that members are carrying guns only because they feel they have to.
“We can’t overstate it enough, that this is defense-oriented only. There is nothing offensive about this at all,” the spokesperson said. “Our hope is that at some point it helps to serve as a greater deterrence towards those who want to inflict harm upon the Jewish community.”
