The Haaretz editorial on Friday (“Arming civilians is no solution,” Oct. 9) is rife with errors about basic values, tendentious and inaccurate.

The right of a person to defend himself from harm is an undisputed right; it is intertwined with the right to life. There’s no meaning to the right to life if we deny one’s right to defend it. I suggest that before entering a debate on whether it’s proper policy to provide weapons to civilians that we reexamine the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty.

The right to life is above all the other rights an individual has. The call to carry weapons is not a populist demand, but a demand by people who believe they have the right to defend themselves. In today’s reality it isn’t enough to imagine that “it can’t happen to me,” as is common among reckless drivers. On the contrary, we must adopt the approach that “it certainly could happen to me.” Each of us is liable to be the object of a terrorist attack.

It’s very inaccurate to say that, “In a few terror attacks the perpetrators were ‘neutralized’ by civilians carrying guns,” as the editorial stated. It hasn’t been just “a few attacks.” In dozens of instances since the terror on the home front began in 1975, attacks were repelled or nipped in the bud and numerous lives were saved because there was a resident with a gun license at the right place at the right time.

There is no comparison between the Israeli situation and that which prevails in the United States. In the U.S. the right to self-defense is enshrined in the Constitution, and as a result, so is the right to carry weapons. In the U.S. it’s very easy to get a gun; you can just go into a store and buy one.

Here in Israel one must apply for a license from the Public Security Ministry before buying a gun, and the authorities give them out sparingly. The criteria were tightened considerably in recent years because the ministry wanted to look good in the media, as if an isolated incident of the murderous use of a weapon by a specific person is a reason to deny residents the right to self-defense and make them sitting ducks for terrorists. Under this approach, we ought to take all vehicles off the roads, since every year hundreds of people are killed in road accidents and thousands are seriously injured.

Everyone knows that even if the security forces are substantially bolstered, they will never be able to deploy a network of complete protection against sudden attacks by individuals or organizations. We’re not talking about giving every person a gun, but about giving weapons licenses to qualified civilians who served in the security forces, and whose skills and knowledge in the use of weapons are no less than that of Israeli police officers. Giving gun licenses to civilians will enhance our defense against terror attacks and increase deterrence.

It’s hard to forget what happened during the attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem in March 2008. A terrorist with a Kalashnikov rifle entered the yeshiva and a policeman stood behind a stone wall and didn’t fire a single shot, even as the massacre continued. The one who saved the day was an off-duty soldier, Capt. David Shapiro, who snuck into the yeshiva compound despite being warned away by police, and shot the terrorist dead with his personal weapon.

The writer is the head of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce.