Scholar Says Armed Self-Defense Is Key to Jewish Survival in US

A Youngstown State University scholar is making the case that American Jews should treat armed self-defense as part of Jewish survival, not a departure from Jewish identity.

Snapshot

Dr. Adam Fuller, author of "The Armed Jew: The Case for Jewish Gun Ownership," told honors students at Yeshiva University why he became a gun owner after October 7, when students in his own classroom defended Hamas and campus groups called for "resistance." Bearing Arms columnist Cam Edwards covered the talk and endorsed Fuller's argument.

Key points

• Personal turning point: Fuller didn't own a gun until after October 7, when he asked a former student, a competitive pistol shooter, to help him buy a firearm and get training; he later earned a concealed carry license.
• Challenging stereotypes: Fuller argues that depicting Jews as weak or timid, even in Jewish scholarship, increases vulnerability, saying his focus is "Jewish survival," not "dead Jews."
• Israel isn't the model: Fuller notes Israel treats gun ownership as a collective, military-linked privilege with heavy licensing restrictions, unlike the individual right protected in the U.S.
• Constitutional advantage: Edwards writes that the Second Amendment gives American Jews a protection Israelis lack, letting armed, trained community members act as a first line of defense at synagogues and schools.

Quick take

Edwards frames Fuller's message as a direct challenge to the idea that armed self-defense is foreign to Jewish identity, arguing defenselessness isn't a virtue regardless of what gun-control advocates claim. For concealed carriers, it's a reminder that community-level readiness, not just police response, is part of the broader self-defense conversation.

Read the full story: bearingarms.com