It's Time For Armed Guards At Synagogues

By Howie Silbiger

Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year got terrifying for nearly two dozen worshippers who had gathered for the Kol Nidre prayer at the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario.

As worshippers were about to enter the sanctuary, 29-year-old Sean Ward pulled up in his truck, got out and started firing at the synagogue with a shotgun. Standing outside the synagogue was police officer Jeff Smith, hired by the synagogue for paid guard duty service, who immediately drew his weapon and fired back. Smith was hit and seriously wounded just as another police officer arrived and shot Ward, who is currently in critical condition.

Nearly 20 bullets struck the synagogue, entering the lobby through stained glass windows. None of the worshippers in the building were injured.

Unfortunately, in today’s political climate in Canada, a man walking up to a synagogue and opening fire doesn’t even make front page news. It’s almost expected after years of the Canadian government and police allowing protesters on the streets advocating for the “globalization of the Intifada,” which in its true essence is the indiscriminate attack on Jews in Canada. While there is no immediate evidence that Ward was a Hamas supporter, the general atmosphere created by those protesters allows nutcases with guns to believe that Jews are open targets.

We have spent years treating the phrase ‘the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun’ as something that belongs in an American political argument. Belleville proves the point. Had an armed police officer not been standing in front of the Sons of Jacob, who knows if anyone would have walked out of the synagogue. Although there was a lockdown and congregants had to take cover, they didn’t have to wait for a police car to show up before engaging and stopping the attack. Someone with a gun was already there.

That is something synagogues in Quebec cannot simply arrange for themselves. Quebec law prevents police officers from taking private security work that requires a security licence, so a synagogue cannot hire an off duty police officer to stand outside armed in the same way Sons of Jacob did in Belleville. Instead, Jewish institutions here spend enormous amounts of money on security guards who cannot carry firearms, along with cameras, reinforced doors, gates, fences, bollards and just about anything else that might buy a few extra seconds should someone decide to show up with a weapon.

And this is where Canadian law really starts to become ridiculous.

Canada already has a system that allows properly authorized security personnel to carry firearms while protecting cash, negotiable instruments and other goods of substantial value. Apparently, the government understands that somebody carrying around a large amount of money might attract criminals with guns and that having another gun available to protect that money may not be such a terrible idea.

Protecting people is another story. That is the part that really makes no sense. We already accept armed guards on Canadian streets every day because cash is valuable and someone may be willing to use violence to steal it. At the same time, Jewish schools and synagogues are surrounded by guards, cameras, fences and locked doors because everyone already knows they are potential targets but allowing a properly trained guard to be armed and capable of confronting someone who shows up with a gun is treated very differently.

Belleville should put an end to pretending that this is some abstract argument. Sons of Jacob hired an armed police officer because it was Yom Kippur and the congregation wanted extra security. They had no idea that a man with a shotgun would actually show up. One did, and the armed officer was already standing there when it happened.

Quebec must start allowing synagogues to hire armed off duty police officers or armed security guards, and Canada needs to seriously reconsider rules that make armed protection perfectly normal when the valuable thing being guarded is money but considerably more difficult when it is people.

An armed guard saved all the worshippers at Sons of Jacob Congregation on Yom Kippur night. I think it’s time for the Quebec government to understand that Jewish lives are at least as valuable as the contents of an armoured car.