Hundreds of American Jews have rushed to undergo firearm training and how to respond to an active shooter following the massacre at the Pittsburgh synagogue last month, France24 has reported.
Cherev Gidon Israeli Tactical Training Academy founder Yonatan Stern said his company, which offers classes in Pennsylvania and Arizona, has been inundated with more sign-up requests from Jews since the October 27 massacre of 11 worshippers than it has in the entire time since the academy opened six years ago.
“There is no question that Jews are under threat in America,” Stern said. “Would you say to soldiers on the front line, ‘just lay down your guns and let the enemy kill you?’ No. So Jews need to be armed.”
Stern said that since the shooting in Pittsburgh, the deadliest attack on Jews in American history, he has designed a course specifically on how to respond to an active shooter in a synagogue.
The rush for the classes comes as others say that this is not the solution.
“I don’t think that the answer to this problem is solved by having our synagogues, mosques and churches filled with armed guards or our schools filled with armed guards,” Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto told NBC News.
Instead, he said, “We should try to stop irrational behavior from happening at the forefront, and not try to create laws around irrational behavior to continue.”
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