249 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
249 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
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ISRAEL.TXT
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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I, Abraham N. Tennenbaum, declare and say:
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EXPERTISE ALLEGATIONS
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I am an Israeli attorney practicing as a prosecutor and am a lieutenant
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in the Israeli national police (Jerusalem).
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I received my law degree in 1985 from the faculty of law of the
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University of Jerusalem. In 1986 clerked for Israeli Supreme Court Judge
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S. Natanyahu. In 1987 I joined the Israeli national police as a criminal
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investigator and since 1988 have been a prosecutor with the Police
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prosecution Department in Jerusalem.
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Currently I am on leave from the Israeli national police and am studying
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for my doctorate in criminology from the Institute of criminal Justice
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and Criminology, University of Maryland (at College Park, Md.).
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I am the author of: Israeli gun laws and their impact, a paper presented
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at the 50th anniversary meeting of the American Society of Criminology
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(1991) which is forthcoming in C. Cozic & C. Wekesser (eds.), Gun
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Control: Current Controversies (October, 1992); The relationship between
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Police use of deadly force and the homicide rate, Western Criminologist,
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Fall 1991; and Police officers' need for self-defense causes brutality
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in B. Leone (ed.) Police Brutality (1991). I have also published popular
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articles on gun control, police use of deadly force and other
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criminological subjects in the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, St.
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Louis Post Dispatch, Hartford Courant, Cleveland Plain Dealer and USA
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Today.
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If called as an expert witness, I would testify as follows:
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GENERAL REGULATORY SCHEME
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1. Like England which once controlled the area and from which much
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Israeli law is drawn, Israel has no formal written constitution. As in
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England, Israeli law recognizes certain things as essential human rights
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either by statute, regulation, practice or judicial decision. But gun
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ownership is not among them.
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2. Firearms possession is not by right, but by permission based on
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policies which, in effect, promote public safety by assuring that there
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will in all public places be competent, trained civilians bearing
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firearms. The philosophy of gun control in Israel is that firearms
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training is available to the entire loyal, law-abiding citizenry. In
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addition to the firearms that are privately owned, firearms are freely
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distributed to trained competent, civilians by the Israeli government
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(Army or police). And therefore guns are, by comparison to the U.S.,
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very available to the ordinary citizen.
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3. Israel has very intensive and extensive gun control -- if that is
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understood to include not only limitation-regulation of gun ownership
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but encouragement-requirement of it. To own any kind of firearm, a
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special permit from the Interior Ministry is required. No one may obtain
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a permit without showing a legitimate reason for owning a firearm. The
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permit has to have the approval of the police, and is specific as to the
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owner, and the specific firearm whose serial number has to appear on the
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permit. In addition, it is current policy that permitees qualify on the
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range with the firearm and they must re qualify every other year.
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4. It is easy for a law-abiding citizen (with no criminal record) to get
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a permit for a handgun- The primary reason for a permit to issue is
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personal protection, including the military function and self-defense
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against terrorism- People have firearms for other reasons too, such as
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hunting or target shooting, but the main reason is for self defense.
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CARRYING CONCEALED HANDGUNS
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There is no distinction in Israeli law between carrying a handgun and
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possessing it: A permit to own a handgun is a permit to carry it on the
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person (concealed or not concealed). Carrying it is recommended, because
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then the gun is protected from thieves or children. (According to
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Israeli law, the owner of a firearm is responsible for it. If it is lost
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or stolen, s/he must inform the police within 24 hours. The owner will
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generally be prosecuted for a misdemeanor offense which is known as
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"negligence in keeping a firearm"; the "negligence" is more or less
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presumed from the mere fact that the firearm has been lost or stolen.)
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6. Given the ease of getting handgun permits, and that carrying is both
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allowed and encouraged, in any large crowd there will be some citizens
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carrying their personal handguns on them, usually concealed. This is
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exemplified by the following incident which occurred at a perpetually
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crowded intersection in Jerusalem some weeks before the MacDonalds
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massacre [in San Ysidro, California, 1984]: three terrorists who
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attempted to machine-gun the throng managed to kill only one victim
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before being shot down by handgun-carrying Israelis. Presented to the
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press the next day, the surviving terrorist complained that his group
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had not realized that Israeli civilians were armed. The terrorists had
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planned to machine-gun a succession of crowd spots, thinking that they
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would be able to escape before the police or army could arrive to deal
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with them. 1
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GOVERNMENTAL FIREARMS DISTRIBUTIONS
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While Israeli law limits personal ownership of firearms to those
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possessing permits, firearms are readily available to law-abiding,
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responsible civilians for temporary carriage. Most firearms in Israel
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are not owned by those who use or carry them. They belong to the army,
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the police, or to other authorities who loan them out. Some examples
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will explain this huge distribution of firearms.
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A. There is mandatory service in the army (three years for males, two
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years for females). In addition, most of the males are recalled into the
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army for reserve service approximately 30 to 40 days each year. Most of
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them get firearms which they do not just possess while in service and on
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active reserve duty. Reservists, like all soldiers are allowed (and
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those serving in dangerous areas are required) to take their firearm
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home during each leave period or between stints of reserve duty. The
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result is that in any major crowd (bus stations, trains, main streets),
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there are reservists or soldiers armed on the way to or from home.
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B. Whenever a school project involves a field trip to the countryside,
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they are required to have companions with firearms. These will usually
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be parents and/or teachers. In order to obtain enough firearms, one of
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the parents or teachers will go to the local police station and be
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assigned some firearms, which s/he will return after the trip.
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C. The Israeli police operates a civilian volunteer body called the
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"Civil Guards." One of its functions is to provide voluntary armed
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civilian patrols during the night in some neighborhoods. The patrollers
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are equipped with firearms, which are issued at the beginning of, and
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are returned at the end of, the patrol. Many of the volunteers are high
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school students (ages 1618). After a short period of training, they
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carry firearms like any other volunteer.
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D. Another example is the way the police handle cases of criminal
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kidnapping, a phenomenon which is very rare, but which does occur. If a
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person is missing, volunteer teams are issued arms and go out to search
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the forests and caves, while the media call or people to be aware of the
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situation and try to locate the missing person.
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CRIMINAL POSSESSION AND MISUSE OF GUNS
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8. The police and the court take seriously the felony o1, possessing a
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firearm without a permit, which almost always means- that the gun is
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stolen. People with previous criminal records who are caught with
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firearms are generally sentenced to a year or two in prison. There is no
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parole for this and they serve their full sentence.
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9. Criminals can get guns in Israel, but it is not easy. Usually,
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handguns are stolen from private citizens while grenades, and explosives
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are stolen from the army. An unfortunate aspect of this is the greater
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use of explosives and automatic weapons in murders.
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10. To summarize: It is not as easy to get an illegal firearm in Israel
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as in the U.S.A., but it is possible. However, the phenomenon of drug
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dealers or other criminals walking around with a firearm on their person
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is unknown in Israel.
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INCIDENCE OF HOMICIDE AND SUICIDE
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11. The Jewish homicide rate in Israel has always been very low. Indeed
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despite the common availability of guns to law abiding civilians, the
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Israeli homicide rate is comparable to, or lower than, most Western
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European nations and much lower than the United States. As in the U.S.
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and most other nations, the Israeli suicide rate is much higher than the
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homicide rate. Nevertheless, it, too, is lower than the U.S. suicide
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rate and much lower than European nations whose suicide rates are often
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several times greater than the U.S. -- or even greater than the U.S.
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murder and suicide rates combined. The following table of international
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murder and suicide rates illustrates this:
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1 INTERNATIONAL INTENTIONAL HOMICIDE TABLE The Table is based on: 1987
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data from The Statistical Abstract of Israel; an article by Killias
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which gives averages for many countries for the years 19834 6 (Gun
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ownership and violent crime: The Swiss experience in international
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perspective, Security Journal 1990; 1: 169-74); and data on other
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nations from the latest year available in the U.N. Demographic Yearbook-
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l985 (published, 1987)- Figures from Killias are in bold face.
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Country Suicide Homicide TOTAL
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RUMANIA 66.2 n.a. 66.2 (1984)
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HUNGARY 45.9 n.a. 45.9 (1983)
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DENMARK 28.7 .7 29.4 (1984)
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AUSTRIA 26.9 1.5 28.4 (1984)
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FINLAND 24.4 (1983 2.86 27.2
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FRANCE 21.8 (1983 4.36 26.16
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SWITZERLAND 24.45 1.13 25.58
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BELGIUM 23.15 1.85 25.00
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W. GERMANY 20.37 1.48 21.85
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JAPAN 20.3 .9 21.20
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U.S. 12.2 (1982 7.59 19.79
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CANADA 13.94 2.6 16.54
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NORWAY 14.5 (1984 1.16 15.66
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N. IRELAND 9.0 6.0 15.00
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(Homicide rate does not include "political" homicides)
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AUSTRALIA 11.58 1.95 13.53
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NEW ZEALAND 9.7 1.6 11.3
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ENGLAND/WALES 8.61 .67 9.28
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(Homicide rate does not include "political" homicides)
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ISRAEL 8.00 1.00 9.00
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(Homicide rate does not include "political" homicides)
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12. In simple words, the "gun density" in Israel is very high. The laws
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are designed not to prevent gun ownership and carrying by the law-
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abiding, but to bring these phenomena under the scrutiny of the public
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authorities. The philosophy of gun Control in Israel is that, subject to
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police oversight, the public can be trusted with firearms; indeed, we
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can distribute many weapons to authorized people. And, therefore, guns
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are, by comparison to the U.S., very available.
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13. The fascinating point is the combination of what may seem to other
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nations contradictory components. On the one hand, owning and carrying
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guns is strictly licensed. On the other hand, guns are available and
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used by almost every law-abiding citizen at one time or another.
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14. In Israel this combination works very well. The question is whether
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it could be successfully implemented in other societies. Perhaps the
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Israeli success is attributable to unique cultural or local conditions.
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It may not be generalizable to other nations.
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VERIFICATION
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I certify and declare under penalty of perjury under the laws 19 of the
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State of California that the foregoing is a true and correct statement
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of my views and of the information upon which they are based. Executed
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this 20 day of September, 1992 at the University of Maryland, College
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Park.
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______________________
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1 Kates, Firearms and Violent Crime Old Premises, Current Evidence
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in T. Gurr, Violence in America (1989), v. 1, p. 209.
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Downloaded from GUN-TALK (703-719-6406)
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A service of the
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National Rifle Association
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Institute for Legislative Action
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Washington, DC 20036
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