TZP polls: Help us test our newest feature

Take a look at the top of the sidebar, there on the left. We’re testing TZP’s newest feature: weekly polls.

Click on the question to answer the poll (which will open in a new tab or new window), then leave a comment to let us know how the feature worked for you. We’ll leave the current question up until Friday the 25th, collecting not only your answers but your input on the polling process. They we’ll refine our polls according to what you tell us.

Thanks for helping — and thanks for visiting and supporting TZP! While you’re here, please consider joining or shopping in our store. We have excellent custom Kershaw knives, TZP yarmulkes, and uber-cool morale patches for wearing or display.

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P.S. We had a delay on producing targets when our volunteer designer couldn’t complete the work. But another artist stepped in and we’re very close to announcing the targets — and the winners of the quote competition now.

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8 thoughts on “TZP polls: Help us test our newest feature”

  1. Is it just me? There’s no sidebar on the left – it’s on the right.

    And even on that side there’s no poll.

    Why do you guys hate me?

    stay safe.

    1. skidmark — Sorry to hate you. 🙁 It’s not personal, really. What type of device are you using to view the site? If need be, we can bring in The Amazing Jo Ann to help diagnose this!

  2. I found the poll on my iPhone, but I had to scroll way down the page; the iPhone layout has no sidebars, instead putting the right sidebar below the center text and the left sidebar below that.

  3. Putting it together:
    Group I is beyond reach. Only an act of G-d would wake some of them up, and such an act would be catastrophic and horrific.
    There is a very clear theme on the gun issue amongst Israeli Jews and Group III. They approach firearms with complete reverence and seriousness. Few if any hunt (not kishrut) ( I don’t), few if any participate in competitive/recreational shooting (I do), but all are deeply committed to the safe and competent possession, carrying, and use of firearms for defense of self and family. Approaching Group III in America would be singing to the choir.
    That leaves Group II. I believe this is where success could be achieved. They too have a great reverence and seriousness towards firearms, but they do not have the sense of an individual right/obligation for firearms and self-defense, and actually have an aversion towards it.
    Approaching this group should be done on several levels. It needs to be intellectual, could be Torah based, even judicious use of shock-value might also help. (I once used a picture posted on TZP of a ?German soldier shooting a woman and child to explain to one of my daughters, who fully understands the difference between firepower and stopping power, why I also always want firepower)
    In talking to Group II people, they (don’t we all) want to first know that the person next to them carrying a gun is not a nut, and is totally competent in carrying the weapon. That is something they automatically assume with the government/law enforcement person, but need to be able to mentally transfer that status to members in the congregation, family, and most importantly to themselves.
    To conclude:
    I think many threads of discussion could come from this approach to your question. Hopefully it might help with a TZP strategy.
    For example, just trying to convince group II people that no requirement for carrying a weapon (?Vermont), or no requirement for even non-carry possession (many states) is safe and reasonable, even with long guns, would not satisfy their first need and would rarely succeed. This begs the question, might it be an easier case to make discussing arming and acquiring a self-defense mindset with a Group II Jewish person in New York, rather than here in Virginia. I don’t pose such a question to gain the wrath of TZP readers, but if one thinks of it, there’s substance to the question. One needs to think out of the box.
    I hope this makes a useful contribution to what you are trying to accomplish.
    G-d’s shalom be on all of you for the upcoming holiest of days.

    Peter
    Virginia

    1. Peter, what wonderful in-depth commentary. Much food for thought. Thank you and welcome to the TZP commentariat. Hope we see more of you.

      Everybody, thanks for your input on the new poll feature. I’m glad to hear it works for most people — though I guess we have to work on improving it for you who are accessing this site on phones or other mobile devices.

  4. My brief bio:
    I am a 62 year old emergency medicine physician, veteran of the Marine Corps, and have been involved in shooting, much of it organized competitive shooting, since I started with the Nassau County Police Boys Club rifle team on Long Island at the age of 12. Although I have had mild disagreements with some positions on your web site (none of them game stoppers), I very much agree with the TZP motto and goal.
    I was born gentile, am deeply and completely Jewish in my beliefs, and would convert to Judaism if I did not live way out here in Edom (rural Virginia). I have been to Israel twice for medical training, including with the IDF, quickly learned some Hebrew with Rosetta Stone, and was granted a temporary Israeli medical license in 2012 when I worked for a week as a guest physician in the ER at HaEmek Medical Center in Afula.
    Thanks to my acquaintances in Israel, and Orthodox friends in the US, I am very well versed in the religious and social issues, and the long complicated history behind them, playing out both in Israel and in the Diaspora.
    You now might easily deduce my concept of firepower, stopping power, the inherent right (and Torah obligation) of individual and national (think Israel) self-defense.
    Your question is an extremely good one that needs to be asked, and then acted on once a consensus and plan are reached. BUT, the options for answers are way too simplistic. I believe it is so important to get the answer to your question right, for the preservation and safety of Jewish blood, I offer you my following response.
    My general take on your question:
    First, on any questions Jewish, including firearms and self defense, I make the dichotomy of Israeli Jews versus Diaspora Jews. In Eretz Yisrael, I have been astounded by the fierce dedication and Zionisn to the Jewish State across the religious spectrum, from the very religious (ultra Orthodox are another story), to the very secular, from very liberal to very conservative (several suicidally liberal political groups aside).
    While we all know of Israel’s draconian gun laws (this too must change, and change soon), the overall societal awareness, acceptance, and practice of armed self-defense there is telling. It is also very seriously and responsibly undertaken; something to which the writers at TZP are obviously very deeply committed. Gun laws aside, there is a dramatic difference in gun psychology between Israeli and American society. I will play on this further below.
    A more specific take on your question:
    American Diaspora Jews can be demographically divided into three groups on the gun/self-defense issue.
    Group I, a large portion of the Jewish population (probably including some of the dear, and loving members of the shul I occasionally am able to go to, but I don’t know the answer since I’m too timid to ask), is in denial, and have their heads very deep in the sand. They have been brainwashed into believing only government/law enforcement can/should protect them. I’ll leave it to the Rabbis and sages to figure out why this is, but it is.
    Group II are Jews who are not in denial, do not have their heads in the sand, and have a conscious or subconscious awareness of what history and the Hebrew prophets tell us, and the direction humanity, and specifically the Jewish people, are heading. However, they have been raised amongst, and are surrounded by Group I, have had little, more likely no, serious exposure to firearms. All they see is the MSM, the position statements of several of the largest Jewish organizations on the issue (not at all good), and the Michael Bloomberg’s of America.
    Group III are socially conservative, moderate, or even liberal Jews, whether observant, shomer masoret, or even secular, who otherwise totally get it. They are either already armed or believe they have the right to be at any time should they choose to do so.

  5. Don’t forget the lessons of history that the Jewish people can teach (from experience) to us non Jewish readers. My eye opener was reading Mila 18 by Leon Uris.

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