A gun licensing reform that came into effect this week will make hundreds of thousands of Israelis eligible for gun permits, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan announced Tuesday.
Israel's stringent gun laws have been criticized as being too strict and the reform relaxes some of the eligibility criteria.
As many as 500,000 new gun permits may be issued, Erdan's ministry said.
The reform prioritizes issuing licenses to former special forces personnel and combat soldiers, as they receive extensive firearms training as part of their regular and reserve service.
Security personnel retired from reserve service will no longer be legally required to relinquish their weapons and will be given the option of obtaining a civilian license.
Volunteers with certain police units, Magen David Adom and other emergency services will also be able to obtain gun permits, subject to individual review.
The reform also improves the firearms training mechanism available for first-time applicants.
Erdan said the move will help bolster the public's sense of security.
"Many civilians have saved lives during terrorist attacks, and in the era of lone-wolf terrorism, the more skilled civilians we have carrying weapons, the greater the chances of foiling attacks without casualties will be," he said.
"The new permit policy balances the need to protect the public against threats with the need to protect the public from the improper use of firearms."
Israeli Arab officials criticized the reforms, saying they relax gun laws too much and warning that this is bound to cost human lives.
Joint Arab List MKs said the moves will harm mostly Arab citizens, who may seem suspicious to armed Israelis.
They also warned that easing access to guns will exacerbate the illegal firearms problem already plaguing the Arab sector.
"In some Arab communities, the streets are already a battle zone. The police do little about that in the first place, and now they want to give hundreds of thousands more Israelis guns?" a senior Arab official wondered Tuesday.
Joint Arab List MK Aida Touma-Suleiman said, "Reality has taught us that in the absence of rigorous supervision, 'civilian weapons' costs lives – our lives."
Erdan tried to assuage these concerns, telling Channel 12, "The situation in Israel is not going to be like in the United States, where anyone can walk into a store and buy a gun. Israel has 130,000 licensed gun owners and we run extensive background checks."
He said the gun law reform "is based on a policy that balances the justified concern of issuing too many gun permits and the needs of an era rife with social media incitement and lone-wolf terrorism.
"We cannot always anticipate terrorist attacks and that fraction of a time when a civilian can step in and save lives – that was the deciding interest."
