All the years that I've lived in the southern part of Stalag California, I've been aware that there are a large number of Jewish people here. I became even more aware during my twelve-year relationship with a lovely Jewish woman who hails from New York City. Even though she was secular, she introduced me to parts of the Jewish communities in New York, Miami, San Diego and Los Angeles. I met bankers, tax accountants, attorneys, retired folks, entertainers and storekeepers.
I've met two Jewish survivors of the Nazi death camps, their numbers tattooed in the web of their thumbs.
Nearly every one of these folks--one exception was my lady friend--favored gun control.
Gail explained to me that most WWII era European Jews literally didn't believe that the Nazis were enslaving and killing their neighbors that were herded away in the night. Until it happened to them, as one of the elderly camp survivors told me.
None of them thought of defending himself and his neighborhood. Very few of them hid away weapons and ammunition along with their other family valuables. A notable exception was the residents of the Warsaw ghetto in which, with very few old guns and little ammunition, these people were able to defend themselves and their community until the ammo ran out.
Moving ahead to today, we observe tiny Israel, nestled in the midst of several nations with tens of millions of individuals, many of whom wish the Israelis were pushed into the sea. Israel has had to defend itself almost since its inception.
Nearly every military-aged Israeli is armed. Almost every Israeli knows that he--or she--must be prepared to answer an attack anytime, day or night.
Unfortunately, most American Jews haven't made the same mental connections.
Every now and then, some deranged individual has entered a Jewish school or other building with weapons, and has shot up the place, killing a number of people and then himself, or he escaped unscathed to be arrested later. Do American Jews insist on the right to defend themselves? Well, no. More likely, they call for more stringent gun control--doing nothing against the psychotics, but guaranteeing that they won't be stopped.
Jews who are opposed to the right to self defense are, in a sense, Holocaust deniers.
And, by calling for the ownership and use of weapons of self defense to be made illegal, they are depriving themselves and their neighbors of the ability to defend themselves, while doing nothing to curtail the actions of murderers and thieves.
While I generally respect the tenacity and the self reliant nature of the stereotypical Jewish individual, as well as the many with whom I've been acquainted, I'm at a loss to understand this flaw in their philosophy.
Remember, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
Warm regards,
Col. Hogan
Stalag California
