Israeli teachers take lessons in shooting

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Israeli teachers take lessons in shootingFrom Stephen Farrell in Jerusalem PUSHING back her pink watchstrap and fawn jacket, the 25-year-old primary school teacher goes into a crouch and looses eight rounds at the dimly lit target. As the Israeli Government announced plans to issue 40,000 more gun licences to civilians, Elinor Shor's presence on a Jerusalem firing range is the clearest indication yet of the Israeli public's fear. No settler or gun fanatic, Ms Shor would never have considered acquiring a handgun a few months ago, but she changed her mind after the latest explosion of violence one week, and 100 deaths, ago. She and her friends have now signed up for a scheme for all teachers in her home town of Mevaseret offering them free guns to increase security at schools. That is just one way in which the Government of Ariel Sharon has relaxed handgun controls. There are 265,000 guns in private hands in Israel, which has a population of six million. This compares with the United States, where the federal Government estimated in 1999 that 36 per cent of the population owned guns. Israeli ministers announced this week that 40,000 former army officers above the rank of captain will now be allowed to hold private licences. Israel at the best of times is a land where you bump into shoulder-slung M16s in the aisles of Ikea, and this is not the best of times. Since the intifada began in September 2000, the number of civilians carrying guns has risen by 80 per cent, and applications for licences by 300 per cent. Demand and supply meet 17 steps beneath a BMW dealership in the Talpiyot suburb, home to the Krav (Battle) gunshop and firing range. Here Ronen Rabani, 29, the manager, confirms that business has doubled since the intifada. "Some want new guns, others have toys like .22s and they want to replace them," he said. "We get all types of customer, women, youngsters, businessmen doing deals in Arab areas. Only 20 to 30 per cent of buyers are settlers." Across the corridor in the dimly lit firing range, Elinor puts on her ear mufflers as the instructor corrects her stance and advises her to hold the weapon more tightly. She had assumed that her husband, a policeman, would take care of security, but like most Israelis she has read reports of how the Palestinian gunman who killed three people at a Tel Aviv fish restaurant was overpowered and shot by a diner. She now thinks that she must take responsibility for her security. She walked out of the shop with a gun after just a morning of lectures and one afternoon on the range. "The school only asked me two days ago to get a licence, and I said yes. There was no dramatic moment which decided me, it was just everything since the bombing in the Sbarro pizza restaurant last year, when things really started to deteriorate," she said. "When the situation improves I will give the gun back, but we don't see that coming soon." Her friend, Batia Levi, another teacher on the one-day training course, said: "I am not a Sharon supporter and I still consider myself a leftwinger. I don't like guns and I would never have imagined myself getting a gun before all this, but I live in anxiety now and I fear for my children." Across the corridor of Krav's shop, where the Austrian-manufactured Glock 9mm pistol is the most popular, customers are enticed with special offers - "750 shekels off" and "eight payments, no interest". Hippies, settlers and army reservists queue to buy new guns or trade-in old models. Shezaf Zoran, 24, a strawberry farmer, nodded approvingly as the salesman stripped a slick black model on the counter. "I had a Magnum, you know, Clint Eastwood, the long barrel, six bullets. But that sort of thing isn't practical now. I want something lighter and more efficient that can hold more rounds," he says. "More ammo, you can always use more ammo," nods his neighbour, sagely. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-229576,00.html