About 260,000 Israelis have applied for a gun permit since the October 7 attacks by Hamas, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said today.

“Most of the citizens who have applied because they want to protect themselves and their families meet the criteria,” Ben-Gvir said in a press conference he gave.

As he said, his policy as a minister is to issue firearms licenses to as many citizens as possible.

The Department of Homeland Security has been issuing up to 1,700 gun permits a day recently, he said, compared to just under 100 a day before Israel declared war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to the attack on October 7 fighters of the Palestinian movement in its territory.

Days after the attacks, Ben-Gvir, a member of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, called for volunteers to rush to the border area along the Gaza Strip and stock up on military-grade rifles.

He has also repeatedly called for the conditions for applying for a gun license to be relaxed and today again stated that guns save lives.

There are fears that issuing a large number of gun licenses will lead to more violent incidents.