A Gun Can Take a Life Just As Easily As It Can Save One

Let me tell you a little bit about my Neshek, or in english, my gun. Four days into basic training, after many lessons and safety procedures, my platoon walked across base to our Neshekiyah (armory), and there we received our M4 rifle. I, for one, have never touched a gun before coming to Israel. I couldn't tell you the difference between a pistol and a rifle, semi-automatic and automatic, or simply anything about guns at all.

Two weeks after landing last August, I participated in a one-week army experience called "Gadna", where we learn about what the army is like. There we learned about the neshek, and it was in fact the first time that I've ever touched a gun and shot one (although it was only five bullets and with the highest level of safety measures to ensure nothing went wrong, which obviously made me feel safe). Gadna was also the first time that we learned about "Ruach Tzahal" and "Tohar ha'neshek", terms I will get to later.

Fast forward four months and I enlist to Michve Alon. Despite the ultimate goal of learning and improving Hebrew, we also go through level 02 basic training, which is the most basic level of basic training in the army. This means that we spend many hours learning about the M16 that we will carry and shoot, and then we spent two days at the shooting ranges. This experience, although short, is the first time we walk around with a neshek on base, one that is fully operable and real.

But then I get to Tzanhanim, and my experience with a neshek really starts.

Myself, along with 35-40 other recent high school graduates in my platoon, as I mentioned, walk across base to our armory four days after enlisting. Imagine finishing high school, having some free time to relax and live life before enlisting into the army, and then suddenly four days after the start, you are already walking around with a fully-functioning M4 around your neck. Seems a little crazy, but theres a method to the madness.

At first we walk around with no strap, which means that our hands need to be on the handles at all times. Having a strap makes it a lot easier in that it's like carrying a backpack on your back as opposed to in your hands the entire time. They say we need to "deserve" the strap, but in many ways this week teaches us that we always need to hold our neshek and keep it close to ourselves.

The neshek itself, being as important as it is, ultimately can take lives just as much as it can save lives. Therefore, knowing where it is, and not losing it, is one of the most important things in the army. In fact, there is no such thing as losing your weapon. If you forgot your neshek in your room for example, the army doesn't refer to that as losing or forgetting your neshek, but rather as "hafkarat neshek", which simply means abandoning your weapon. By using the word "abandonment", it puts an intentionality behind the action, increasing the significance and ultimately the consequences and punishments as well.

Before firing a single shot, we learn from top to bottom about our neshek. I for one can tell you all the parts of the M4, however not in English since we learn it all in Hebrew. We learn about the different shooting positions and how to be in them properly, about how the gun works from the inside, and about how to carry out different actions if a bullet is stuck or if we need to change a magazine.

In addition, and probably most importantly, we learn about "tohar ha'neshek", a value in the IDF's list of ethics, which can simply be translated to "purity of arms." I have heard many times from my commanders that a neshek can save lives and can just as easily take lives. As a result, there is a HUGE emphasis on how we handle our guns and what is and is not allowed. There is absolutely NO PLAYING WITH OUR GUNS, and any cause for suspicion from the commanders can mean huge punishments for those they suspect. We learn to use our guns in a professional manner, carrying it around all day, and only performing actions on our guns when we are commanded to. This emphasis when it comes to the sanctity of our guns is extremely important for a group of 18-19 year olds who will soon start to walk around in public with an M4 around their neck, and will need to understand the gravity of what they are holding and for what purpose are they holding it.

We then, within the first week, go off to the shooting ranges. That first time is a bit frightening. I'm in laying-down position, with my legs propped to the left, my bud pressed into my shoulder, and the gun facing forward towards my target. After several deep breaths, and a flip of the switch from "safe" mode to "semi" mode, I slowly press on the trigger as a bullet comes out the other side. That first time you don't know what to expect. You don't know what the recoil will feel like, how much it will press against your shoulder, how loud it will be and how much it will hurt, if at all. I can tell you now that the sound is loud and it doesn't hurt if you hold it up snug to your shoulder as you should, but the rest can only be understood by doing it yourself.

Since that first time, I have shot a lot more, and a week ago for the first time in the fields, which essentially means I shot outside of the shooting range. Each time I get better and better, and with that more comfortable. I understand how to shoot and how to deal with my gun in a safe way if I have a problem. I have seen how fast the bullet comes out of the gun, and how powerful it is. Soon I will most probably start bringing my neshek home, which means carrying it around in a public sphere, adding a whole new level of responsibility.

But why I am telling you all of this?

After a week on base, where there is no time to do or focus on anything, I spend time on my phone catching-up. Some weeks are longer than others, some are harder than others, and some are more disconnected from the world than others; however every week we turn off our phones and can only use them when we are told, which usually is less than an hour a day.

A few days ago, being the second time within a matter of weeks, I turn on my phone to read about the latest mass shooting to have happened in the United States, this time in Highland Park, and last time in Uvalde, Texas. I am not here to get into the politics of stuff and how this should be handled, although when you have a country where elementary school students are being shot up, something obviously needs to be done. I am rather here to talk about the gravity of a gun, one that I have learned so much about in recent months.

I feel as if I have a different perspective with regards to guns since I came to Israel, and in many ways my own beliefs have been challenged. Before coming to Israel, I didn't see any reason for someone to have a gun, and felt as-if individuals carrying guns just perpetuated this on-going and never-ending gun crisis. This may have been a naive thought, but now I understand more. I understand that my host-dad on my kibbutz has a weapon that he carries around in the case that there is another terrorist attack like there were in March and April, where the police weren't there on the spot, and he can be there to protect himself, his family, and those around him. That's important! That is using a gun to save lives, which is exactly what we are learning about in the army. Furthermore, to obtain that gun, he had to go through a long, arduous, and educational process; and now every six months has to deal with it in order to keep his license. This responsible gun ownership in order to save lives is one that makes a lot of sense, and in my opinion is one that should even be admired.

In the United States, away from the policy that needs to be done, a culture shift with regards to the way we view guns need to change. Not everyone should get a gun, and those who do should have a hard time obtaining one. If obtaining a gun is very difficult, that should put everyone at greater ease, and I would hope in a perfect world even the most ardent NRA supporters. However, what I would want, and I know this sounds fantastical, is for every gun owner to go through the gun training that I am going through. I want them all to understand the gravity of what they're buying, and what the consequences will be if they use their gun inappropriately. Will this solve the problem? I don't think so completely. However, the first and most difficult step will be for Americans to understand that the gun they bought, hopefully with much difficulty and background checks, can take lives just as much as they save lives.

A gun can take a life just as easily as it can save one.

If 18-19 year old Israeli's are protecting this country with that in mind, we need to create a gun culture in America with that in mind as well.

With stricter gun laws and with that in mind, hopefully we can move one step closer to healing America from the wounds gun violence has inflicted over the past two decades.