'When this happens, you get a wake-up call': U.S. Jews turn to firearms training after Pittsburgh shooting – U.S. News



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David Ortner, President of the United States of America.

"When this happens, you get a wake-up call," said Ortner, a 28-year-old owner of an optician shop in Monsey, New York.

Cherev Gidon Israeli Tactical Defense Academy, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cherev Gidon Israeli Tactical Defense Academy at Scranton, Pennsylvania, has been scheduled to be held on Sunday in response to the Pittsburgh synagogue attack.

Participants show their personal weapons as they take part in the Cherev Gidon Firearms Training Academy in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, U.S. August 5, 2018.

NOAM MOSKOVITZ / REUTERS



He was there to learn how to protect himself from the dead, and to prevent him from slaughtering the deadliest Jewish people in U.S. history.

>> Why I call the Pittsburgh mbadacre a pogrom, and Trump a czar | Opinion

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"The fact is, we're at war," said Yonatan Stern, a veteran officer of the Israel Defense Forces and director of the academy, told his clbad. "We want every Jew in America armed."

In the six years since Stern started the academy, demand for firearms training had never been higher than Saturday's attack. Stern in the last 72 hours. All but three or four were Jewish.

Trainer's practice an Israeli shooting method as they take part in the Cherev Gidon Firearms Training Academy in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, U.S. August 5, 2018.

NOAM MOSKOVITZ / REUTERS



President Donald Trump's statement that the shooting might have been prevented if the synagogue had been employed.

But many Jews have resisted the idea that having synagogues is the best way to prevent such attacks.

Rabbi Moti Rieber, executive director of the Kansas Interfaith Action, an advocacy organization, said on Tuesday that he did not believe

"What kind of country are we going to have an armed guard?" Rieber said. "I think having access to that kind of weaponry is a lot more effective than having a single armed guard."

>> While Trump is president, violence against Jews will keep rising. We must prepare accordingly | Opinion

According to Stern, an armed guard at a synagogue is a useful deterrent but not a replacement for civilians.

Trainees practice push-up exercises as a part of a special tactic called

NOAM MOSKOVITZ / REUTERS



"To wait for law enforcement is just not answer," Stern said.

Some of the students attending the race were card-carrying National Rifle Association members. Some had never fired a gun before. Two worked in schools and wanted to defend Jewish children. Many Sabbath for protection. Sabbath for protection.

"Everybody has to find a way to react; This is my way, "said Zev Guttman, who said he was scared to death.

Honesdale, about 300 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, live-shooter response drills using handguns and rifles. Students practiced drawing concealed weapons, loading and firing AR-15 rifles at bulls-eye targets.

Stern said that it "keys my heart" to see him because he knows they will return to their synagogues as a first line of defense.

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