Israel sees rise in women seeking guns in wake of Hamas massacre

Following Hamas’s attack on October 7, more women have been learning to defend themselves. Some attend krav maga classes, while others have been training for a gun license at Caliber 3.

Israel’s leading counter-terror, defense, and security school, Caliber 3 offers combat training to the IDF, the police, special units, and civilians.

One of the services Caliber 3 offers is training those eligible to obtain gun licenses to use the weapons. School leader Sharon Gat says they have seen a massive rise in women seeking guns.

“Since October 7, many women have been coming to Caliber 3 to get licenses and train,” he said. “They’re doing it because a lot of women go out alone, live alone, or are at home alone while their husbands are away.”

Gat said that in previous operations and wars, he also saw a rise in women seeking weapons, but that the numbers in the last weeks have surpassed anything he saw before, with an increase of hundreds of percentages.

Similar rise in demand for krav-maga instruction

Women aren’t just seeking guns, though. Gat said there was also a massive rise in demand among women to learn the krav maga self-defense method.

The massive rise in women seeking a gun for defense is highly reasonable, according to Gat.

“On October 7, we saw that people with weapons at home saved their families,” he said. “This kind of attack could also happen in Jerusalem, or Jaffa, or Acre.”

The women currently seeking gun licenses have never served in the IDF and never thought they would own a gun, but Gat believes this isn’t a safety risk as long as they train properly. While American research shows that holding guns in homes for defensive purposes is far more dangerous than not having a weapon, Gat believes that Israel’s strict method of licensing people to hold weapons is much safer.

“Israel is doing it logically with background checks, so that it doesn’t give guns to people with criminal or terrorist pasts or people with mental health issues,” he said. “Anyone who is fit to own a gun has to undergo a day of training and repeat it once a year.”

In general, to be eligible for a gun license, one has to have been a resident for at least three years, over the age of 27 if one hasn’t served in the army and 21 if one has, understands Hebrew, and has no criminal record. Preference is given to holders of certain occupations, such as tour guides or teachers. Living in dangerous areas of the country, like Judea and Samaria, may make one more eligible for a gun license as well. The application for a license must also include a medical exam.

“In the current situation, people feel a lack of security,” said Gat. “After what we saw on October 7, there is no choice for Israel but to make sure that every family has a weapon and can defend itself.”