By Rod Ellis – The mere fact you are reading this magazine means you and I share a bond… a bond to try and protect the schools, colleges and hospital campuses of this nation. Bearing that thought in mind, I’m certain the Newtown, Conn., mass shooting in December that shocked our nation’s conscience shocked yours as well and once again strengthened your personal resolve to be the best that you can be in keeping your people and facilities safe.

With this in mind, at the beginning of this year, I wanted to learn from the best of the best. I wanted to go to Israel. I’d applied to go the year before and had been accepted, yet funding shortages kept me home. In January, however, I was ecstatic to learn that I would be going for two weeks in May and June as a member of the 2013 Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE). GILEE is a project of Georgia State University (GSU) in Atlanta and is the brainchild of Dr. Robert Friedmann; professor emeritus of criminal justice at GSU.

What Security in Israel Is Really Like

There are a lot of ideas in the United States of what Israel is like. For example, I’d always heard that Israel is an armed society, and virtually everyone routinely carries a weapon. I learned quickly from one of our guides that although the private ownership of firearms in Israel is not forbidden, those not employed in public safety, security or in the military must show a legitimate need to possess a firearm and must have a permit. Examples include being a civilian, yet being a target of a specific credible threat, such as a retired member of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) or police officer, or a person serving as a reservist. With 20% of Israel’s budget going to defense and security, and 80% of the nation’s defense force being reservists, one can comfortably calculate that a significant portion of the public owns a firearm but don’t routinely carry one.

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