About us

We are:

A group of Jews and friends who stand uncompromisingly for the right to keep and bear arms — and the entire Bill of Rights.

We believe:

  • That the right to keep and bear arms is a lifesaving civil right.
  • That firearms are crucial genocide-prevention tools.
  • That an armed and informed citizenry is necessary to prevent or defeat tyranny.
  • That the right to self-defense is innate; that it was granted to us by G-d or Nature. It was not given to us by government, and it cannot rightly be taken away by government.
  • That the U.S. Bill of Rights codified pre-existing freedoms owned by all men and women; that the Second Amendment guards the other nine amendments; but that all rights expressed in that great Bill are vital.
  • That principles must never, ever be compromised. Compromise may be fine for strategy, but when you give up principles, you’ve already surrendered everything that matters.

Our mission:

We aim to be a consistent, unyielding voice for keeping and bearing arms. We will keep a close eye on both the enemies of our rights and the compromising “friends” of the Second Amendment who try to sell us out while pretending to be our allies. And we will answer them.

We may speak on other topics, but everything we do will revolve around gun rights as civil rights and firearms as genocide preventors.

We are individuals who will bring our own interests and perspectives to the work we do for The Zelman Partisans; but we are all committed to liberty without compromise.

Our inspiration:

Aaron Zelman -- Founder and guiding spirit of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO), 1989-2010
Aaron Zelman — Founder and guiding spirit of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO), 1989-2010

Aaron founded JPFO in 1989 to be a hardcore, educational, predominantly Jewish voice for the right to keep and bear arms. JPFO also often expressed Aaron’s own creatively quirky voice. After he died in December of 2010, his organization stumbled and nearly went under. Although it eventually began to come back strong under new leadership, in 2014 its board made a secret deal to sell JPFO off to the The Second Amendment Foundation, whose philosophy and style are the opposite of Aaron’s.

The Zelman Partisans is our first response. Most of The Zelman Partisans were connected in some way to JPFO during Aaron’s lifetime. We will not let Aaron’s philosophy — the philosophy to which we are all also committed — be watered down, betrayed, or “disappeared.” We will stand by it and carry it unswervingly into the future.

The fine print: We named ourselves in honor of Aaron Zelman and the work he began. The name of this organization is a tribute and a recognition. No member of the Zelman family is part of this group, nor do we claim any association with Aaron’s living heirs.

 

36 thoughts on “About us”

  1. I am a member of the JPFO, past vice president of the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance, am a Constitutionalists public high school history/government teacher, former LEO,bagree 100% with your mission and statement, and want to join.

    1. Thank you very much, Wyowanderer! We’re in the process of setting up both a donation system and an online store. Not quite ready yet, but we’ll be there soon. We wanted to have a good, strong blog established first. Really glad you care — and want to express that with a contribution.

  2. Any chance of getting an RSS button on the home page, or a link to get new posts emailed, or something like that? I didn’t see either.

      1. There’s an RSS button, but it complains,
        “ERROR: This is not a valid feed template.”

        I too prefer RSS to newsletter; keeps stuff sorted out, avoids inbox clutter, and when a site is overly prolific, is not where it annoys me.

  3. Can train Jews and friends on pistol/carbine and or fieldcraft (google SERE training) up here in Maine from neophytes to those comfortable with side arms. Training would be with a former USAF flight surgeon, Army corpsman, Army Ranger and a SERE instructor. Weapons can be supplied but would ask students to purchase their own ammo.

    If enough interest, could look at class or classes starting this Spring. Some instructors have taught SWAT teams from CO, FL and elsewhere. This would not be their usual class, but as a favor.

    1. Living in Canada but just bought a building for my business in Limestone and expect to be spending lots of time there setting up this summer with my 13 yr old son. Would love to meet any Jews in the area and get firearms training – my 13 yr old has had gun experience in the air cadets, but I have had none. What part of Maine are you in, and how can we reach each other?

  4. It is a good thing to see the legitimate intellectual heirs of Aaron Zelman once again take up the fight against tyranny. I would be interested in joining and contributing both intellectually and monetarially.

  5. please keep me updated – was JPFO member for years, but worried about future direction of that group now. Just learned about you from Nicki’s latest post. So please keep my email and let me know what is going on and how to join. thank you. Oh, yes – Shabat Shalom.

  6. ‘Just found your website via Mike Vanderbeog’s blog, Sipsey Street Irregulars . I concur!!! ‘Nuff said!
    God, Guns and Guts Keep America Free,
    III%,
    skybill-out

  7. I too was extremely dismayed to see the JPFO fall into the hands of the Yellow Bellied Gottleib Compromisers.

    I’m pleased to see this blog in protest, and seek to join you in your partisanship.

    1. Thank you, Zoss, Larry, and anybody else who wants to join us. For now, to be a Zelman Partisan, all you have to do is … speak up and be one. Which you’re already doing.

      At this point, we don’t have a formal organization for anybody to join. If this blog (our initial effort) is successful, then we definitely want to move on to more and bigger things. Special projects. Memberships. Who knows? Your input will help determine everything. So stick around. Spread the word. Speak your mind. Donate if you can. And we’ll work toward the future.

  8. Could you post somewhere about your writers, who they are, their background, etc? I’m curious, and thinking about donating here, since I am a life member of JPFO, and no longer contribute there.

    1. Sean, thank you. Currently, four of our bloggers haven’t started blogging yet. Two of them are names you’d probably know; two probably aren’t (they are known within the gun-rights world, but not as writers). I hope we’ll be publishing mini-bios once we’re fully up and running. Meantime, of those who are blogging, Nicki Kenyon, Sheila Stokes-Begley and I are all somewhat known, have blogs, and can be searched online. Just FYI, six of the TZP blogging team are either religiously or culturally Jewish (four religious, two cultural but non-believers). Two (including me) are not.

  9. I am so glad you found me. Your email regarding twitter lead me to your site. I immediately started reading all the different post and felt like I was amongst like minded friends. I remembered the loss of Aaron Zelman and saddened, wondered what would become of JPFO. Later I heard of SAF taking over JPFO and let my membership terminate.Though I was a little taken aback by some of the animosity towards Mr.Gotlieb I thought back when he was in favor of UBGC’s and it caused me to raise an eyebrow. As I listened to his reasoning, it seemed to me that he was trying to be to clever, a trait that causes me alarm and distrust. Anyway enough of him you are back in the form of TZP. Out of the ashes rises the phoenix. My heart felt thanks for all that all of you do.

    Daniel Champness

    1. Thank you, Daniel! Nicki Kenyon is our Twitter maven, so I’ll give her credit for bringing you to us. And we know you’ve already done a lot for TZP.

      I admit to being one of the ones with animosity toward Gottlieb (who, alas, is still, even now, advocating UBCs), but not everybody sees him as I do. Nicki worked with him at KeepAndBearArms.com and liked him quite a bit. I can promise you that our main job here, whatever we think or don’t think of Mr. G, will be to uphold the principled positions held for so many years by JPFO. And Jew and Gentile alike, the Zelman Partisans will remind the world that “gun control” (really victim disarmament, of course) enables genocide. And that evil we will prevent if humanly possible.

      LOVE your phoenix imagery, too. 🙂

  10. Love the site and was sorry that the effort to keep JPFO from the clutches of the “munchkin”. Although I did contribute to that cause, I am finally getting back on my feet financially, to the point I can spread a little bit here and there.

    Thus, I will soon be contributing here, both verbally and financially. Was a Member of JPFO for a number of years, had to “down-size”, and now wouldn’t go near it – which is a crying shame at the least

    Glad to see you here Claire, we traded emails years ago, IIRC around the time of Y2K. Something about wielding pikes together at the barricades.

    Post on Sipsey Street from time to time, and am a recent OK member.

    Thanks to all of you for starting this site, and honoring Aaron Zelman – he was an original, and a true patriot. Always enjoyed Rabbi Marmelstein’s missives, too.

    Don’t know if you accept articles ad hoc, but I’m working on why I ended up believing what I do – from a 12 year old gentile reading a US Army document on the opening of Dachau, to a typical 60’s/70’s “liberal”, to a 67 year old member of OK.

  11. WAS a charter member at JPFO; resigned before they could use my info for the new parent org. NOW a 3 year ‘100’ member. Keep on with what you’re doing!

  12. As an honorary Life Member of JPFO, that organization’s “Senior Editorial Consultant” and Aaron’s co-author on two novels, I’m very happy to see this development, especially with Claire’s name attached to it. Please keep up the good work and count on me for editorial help if you want it.

  13. I’m a Christian, but I’ve always supported the JPFO. I will now do the same here. Jews and Christians must stick together in my opinion, and this cause is very important. The Jewish people have seen first hand. Never again.

  14. Does TZP do any lobbying? I read the “About Us” and I see the group describes itself as an “unyielding voice” but is any activism taking place? Or is this a publication for commenting and discussing gun-related issues? I ask in order to make a determination about whether or not I want to donate/become a member. Thank you.

      1. Oh, I’d also like to add that if you’re interested in activism for pro-gun Jews, we invite you to join us and volunteer to head up an activist effort for TZP!

        Our mission is to maintain Aaron Zelman’s hardcore pro-rights voice since his original group as sold (and sold out). There are a lot of ways to do this. So anybody who wants to, say, donate enough to build an activist wing or put in the time, skill, and effort to spearhead such a project is more than welcome.

        We’re an all-volunteer group and we do what our skills, our interests, our fellow volunteers, and our donors enable us to do.

  15. This looks great – but I notice the long time since anyone used the site.

    I’m a retired curator/archivist in Hollywood, Florida wondering how I can link up with other “right” thinking Jews in South Florida.

  16. Susannah Worth how about visiting your local gun range you may be surprise in how many right thinking Jews you may run into.

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