It's not that hard to spot a weapon on the streets of Tel Aviv or anywhere in Israel right now. Rifle's strapped across the backs of Reservists. But now there's a new weapon of choice here. Israelis pulling the trigger on purchasing handguns. Many of the first time buyers, women.

Hi. I have two young boys. The big one is eight, the little one is four. They are waking up, screaming in the middle of the night. It breaks my heart. And as a mom, I have to do anything I can to keep them safe.

Safety is why Israel's controversial national security minister, Ben Gavir, says he's pushing to arm as many civilians as possible. A leader of the far-right Jewish power party, he brandished a handgun last year in a confrontation with Palestinians, saying he acted in self defense. Two days after the horrific October seventh attack, Gavir launched what he calls an emergency operation to distribute more guns.

It's something that I saw how many kids were killed. I saw how easy it was. I think that the weapon next to me is better just in case. The procedure.

For getting a firearm license, which used to take months and included in-person interviews now is done over the phone with a permit issued in less.

Than a week. We have a giant influx of people coming from all parts of the country. All different gun ranges all over the place, all over the country are also.

Completely swamped. Since October seventh, the Israeli Ministry of National Security says more than 220,000 eligible civilians have applied for a gun license, compared to around 36,000 in the nine months before the attacks. It says in the last month, more than 26,000 conditional permits and more than 15,000 new licenses have been issued.

For the most part, it's really just it's self-defense. You want to defend your family, you want to defend your community, you want to defend your people.

Israelis targeting any sense of security they can find right now.

I want to bring in Jay gray, who is live for us now in Tel Aviv. A lot of these Israelis say they're buying guns for self-defense. Can you talk through what else you're hearing on the ground there about why people are doing this.

Yeah, Halley, a lot of people are concerned after seeing they say how easy those attacks were. But let's talk a little bit about the pushback as well. The Israeli government has requested 24,000 automatic weapons from the US, but is getting a bit of that pushback from members of Congress. Some officials with the State Department are concerned about where those guns might end up. They could end up in the wrong hands, they fear. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, shootings have increased dramatically in Israel, and specifically in the volatile West Bank since October seventh, and then the easing of those gun regulations. They say many of the victims, in fact, a vast majority are Palestinians.

Jay gray, thank you very much for that reporting for bringing us that story here is our original tonight on the show. Jay, thank you.

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