Q:
What is the Rav’s opinion on gun control?
A:
The subject of gun control is something I’m not capable of talking about. There’s only one element I do see here. I see all the liberals who protect the rights of criminal are for gun control. And most of the conservatives who would like capital punishment and stricter punishments for crime, they’re against gun control. So it leads me to suspect something here.
Now I’m not capable of telling you. It could be that this is just another phenomenon of irresponsibility, taking away weapons from householders and storekeepers, because the criminals always will find ways and means of having guns. They’re not afraid of the law. It’s those who fear the law who will obey the law. And therefore, to disarm the public is a big question in my mind.
However, as I said before, you can judge a cause by its proponents. Like the world says, birds of a feather flock together. Or like we learned in the Gemara, כל עוף למינהו ישכון – every person, every bird flies with his own flock.
And since all the liberals are for gun control, it’s worth for us just because of that alone, to give a setback to the liberals. Just for that alone, on no other grounds. It’s a safek hashokul. If you can give a kick in the pants of the liberals, anything you can do is a big mitzvah.
(March 1981)
