On today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co. I talk with Chaim Naiditch, the founder of CCL Shul Members. The Chicago-area group is home to about 150 members who get together on a regular basis to train to protect themselves and members of the Jewish community, and according to Naiditch has grown over the past several months as more individuals have expressed an interest in self-defense and defense of synagogues in the wake of the machete attack in New York over Hanukkah, as well as Jack Wilson stopping an attack at the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas in December.

Following the 2013 Firearm Concealed Carry Act in Illinois, many Jewish people privately applied for — and received — CCLs. While firearms training is a requirement in order to obtain a CCL, the organization’s founders recognized a need for more advanced and situation-specific training to ensure that all those who chose to carry would be able to responsibly and effectively use them, should the need ever arise. “CCL Shul Members came into being to fill a need,” said Naiditch. “Many Jews have chosen to arm themselves in self-defense, and we were founded to provide high-level, standardized training to ensure we’re all on the same page, and that we’re doing everything we can to ensure we are defending what we hold most dear in a responsible way.”

Also on today’s program, I answer several emails about the current state of things in Virginia, where Democrats in the state House of Delegates recently approved seven more bad bills. The big fight now is going to be between the Senate and House versions of things like “one gun a month” and “red flag” language. While neither chamber produced legislation worth supporting, the Senate versions are generally less onerous than what’s come out of the House. I don’t think the final versions are going to get the backing of Second Amendment supporters, but their awfulness may be somewhat moderated in conference, though I’m not holding my breath.

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