Ben Gvir appointed people close to him to issue licenses to carry weapons to citizens, without qualifying them to work in this field, but they issued thousands of licenses to people who did not meet the conditions for carrying weapons, and Ben Gvir says that “Israel is at war.”

The head of the Firearms Division in the Israeli Ministry of National Security, Yisrael Avisar, submitted his resignation from his position, following the approval of aides and close associates of the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, to issue licenses to carry weapons to citizens without them being legally authorized to do so, according to what was reported by Israeli media.

Avisar had spoken about the role of those close to Ben Gvir in issuing these licenses during deliberations that took place in the Knesset last week. He said that these close associates had set up an “operations room” in the minister’s office, and that he feared that they had tried to give preference to some of the applications for obtaining licenses to carry weapons.

There were 82 people in the “operations room” from Ben Gvir’s office, the Knesset, and female recruits for the national service. They were described as “temporary licensing employees,” and their training period lasted only one day, while the official training period lasts for a month.

Licensing officers must examine candidates for a license to carry a weapon, ensure their health condition and mental capacity to carry a weapon, in addition to checking all required qualifications.

Security sources said that in recent weeks, these "temporary employees" had approved between hundreds and thousands of licenses to carry weapons for citizens, while a monitoring process showed that licenses were granted to those who did not meet the criteria for obtaining these licenses, according to what the Haaretz newspaper reported about them.

A security official told the newspaper, "This performance is a recipe for disaster. They are distributing weapons as if they were distributing candy, but a license to carry a weapon is not children's toys. There is almost no oversight in the ministry." The sources directed their main criticism at Avisar, accusing him of giving in to Ben Gvir's demands and allowing this "problematic performance."

It is noteworthy that Ben Gvir has sought, since taking office, to facilitate the conditions for issuing licenses to carry weapons, and has sought to ease the conditions further since the start of the current war on Gaza, as the number of applications reached 255,000, and about 20,000 of them were approved. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports Ben Gvir's plan and encourages citizens to own weapons.

Ben Gvir claimed in his comment that “the minister’s policy of distributing weapons to citizens of Israel who meet the conditions is clear and continuous. And whoever does not continue to implement this policy in accordance with the minister’s instructions and is stressed by attacks from the left in a committee like this or that in the Knesset, cannot continue in his position as head of the Firearms Division.” Israel is at war and we must get out of the usual perception.”