On October 7, 2023, the terrorist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing over 1,000 people. The attack not only sparked the current war in the Gaza Strip, but it also ignited a wave of antisemitism in the United States.
Since the attack, Jewish Americans have faced threats and violence coming from antisemites who oppose Israel’s effort to eliminate Hamas. A terrorist killed one Jewish person and injured eight others after he hurled Molotov cocktails at people participating in a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado. On university campuses, pro-Hamas agitators have physically assaulted and threatened Jewish students.
Several reports reveal rising gun ownership in the Jewish community in response to the increase in antisemitic ideas in American society. Firearm instructors and Jewish security groups told NBC News they have been “flooded” with new clients. Gun shop owners in Florida reported a 300 percent increase in Jewish customers.
The numbers don’t lie: More Jewish Americans are getting guns.
Up to this point, gun ownership was a cultural nonstarter in many American Jewish communities. However, people like Fred Kogen, founder of the Bullets & Bagels gun club in southern California, want to reverse this trend.
Fred Kogen, founder of Bullets & Bagels Gun ClubKogen started the club in 2012 to create a safe space for Jewish people interested in learning how to defend themselves. “There was nothing out there like this,” he told Townhall. “I just didn’t see anything where Jews could come together and shoot and feel culturally at home. There were clubs for cars, clubs for wine, but not this.”
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He added, “History has shown us that being unarmed doesn’t make you safer.”
“Rachel,” a California mother who asked to use a pseudonym for privacy reasons, never imagined she’d become a gun owner. “I grew up thinking guns were for extremists or criminals,” she explained. “It just wasn’t something anyone in my community talked about.”
After the October 7 attack, things changed for Rachel. She began looking into firearm safety classes and later joined Bullets & Bagels. “I didn’t want to be helpless,” she said. “I wanted to feel like I had some way to defend myself if things got worse.”
“Sarah,” another Jewish woman in Orange County, also wished to remain anonymous out of concerns about backlash in her community. She had taken a rifle course in college, but hadn’t touched a firearm since then.
“These people were just living their lives, and all of a sudden, they weren’t. If it could happen there, it could happen anywhere,” she said, describing how the tragedy motivated her to become a gun owner.
When discussing the reasons why so many Jews are hesitant about gun ownership, the club members described a culture that had become accustomed to remaining disarmed.
“For 2,000 years, Jews have largely been a disarmed people,” Sarah reflected. “They were refugees, restricted in what they could do, where they could live, and how they could defend themselves. It just hasn’t been part of the culture.”
Kogen echoed Sarah’s sentiments. “Jews just don’t grow up with a gun culture. It’s just not in our upbringing. So when they come to the range, they come in with these preconceptions, or no concept at all,” he said.
He added, “We were never encouraged to protect ourselves that way. It was always, ‘let someone else do it.’ But after October 7, that changed.”
Joe Polisar, who previously served as the Chief of Police in Garden Grove, explained, “For a lot of Jews, especially older or more liberal ones, guns were just not something you ever considered owning.”
“There’s a cultural aversion,” he continued. “Some of it is historical—like trauma from persecution. Some of it is political. But it’s deeply ingrained.”
Bullets & Bagels has been a source of inspiration for Jewish people in southern California. But, as Kogen explained, people of all ethnicities and backgrounds are welcome. “It’s a very inclusive environment. You don’t have to be Jewish or religious. We’ve had Christians, atheists, even folks who had never touched a gun before,” he said.
“Some people come because they’re friends of members. Others are just curious or new to guns. We’ve had Christians who were passionate Second Amendment people and wanted to train with us. Nobody’s ever been turned away,” Kogen added.
He further explained that the group is not political. “We don’t push politics at our events. People come from all sides. I’ve got liberals, conservatives, independents—they all shoot together,” he told Townhall.
“What made Bullets & Bagels different was the culture. You’d go from talking about Israel and community safety over coffee to running a drill on the line—it was familiar and purposeful,” Polisar explained.
Rachel, who had recently become a gun owner when she joined the club, said it is “very welcoming” and that she “didn’t feel intimidated.”
“Everyone I met there wanted me to succeed. Nobody made me feel like I was behind or didn’t belong,” she added.
Sarah, who recently obtained her concealed carry license, agreed. “It takes a long time to get to know me, but I do have a group of people that I can share that part of my life with. Those are the people at Bullets & Bagels and the people in my immediate family,” she said.
NRA Instructor training Bullets & Bagels memberThe fears that inspired many Jews to become gun owners are real. Some saw Hamas’ assault and the outpouring of antisemitic tropes as a sign that they are in danger. “What happened on October 7 was a wake-up call, but what really shocked me was how many people here—in the U.S.—seemed to justify it or stay silent,” said Rachel. “I never thought I’d feel afraid to be visibly Jewish in America, but now I do.”
Antisemitic incidents in America surged by over 200 percent between October 7, 2023, and September 2024, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Sarah highlighted the role universities have played in stoking antisemitism — especially at UC Irvine. “It’s been well over a decade that there’s a lot of antisemitism at that university,” she said.
“The information in these textbooks, which has been there for a very long time, is very one-sided against Israel, against Jews, and this is becoming the norm, she continued.
Polisar agreed, saying, “What we’re seeing on college campuses right now is terrifying” and that “I never thought I’d live ot see open antisemitism celebrated like it is today.”
Still, it seems change could be coming, even if it’s gradual. The increase in Jewish gun ownership is an encouraging sign. As Kogen stated, “Jews are realizing the world changed, that we can’t assume someone else will protect us.”
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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