Benjamin Feldman’s wife of many years doesn’t like guns. During compulsory weapons training for the Israel Defense Forces 27 years ago, the future Mrs. Feldman made it clear that there would be no guns in her home.

But on a Tuesday night in June, her husband found himself at a shooting range with the Cleveland chapter of Lox and Loaded. The national firearms and self-defense training group is dedicated to giving Jewish people skills they may need in the face of rising anti-Semitism around the world.

Feldman never expected to spend two hours a week honing his shooting skills. For more than 20 years, through courtship, marriage, moving to the United States, and rearing children, one thing had remained true: The Feldman home was a gun-free zone.

But Oct. 7, 2023, changed everything.

On that day, up to 7,000 Hamas terrorists launched a carefully planned attack. They crossed the Gaza Strip’s 31-mile frontier with Israel in cars and trucks, and on motorcycles and paragliders.

The terrorists killed 1,182, injured 4,000, and took 251 hostages. The victims came from 44 nations. The youngest to die was an unborn child, and the oldest was a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor who died in his safe room, according to a report by the All Party UK–Israel Parliamentary Group.

Pedestrians walk past portraits of Israeli hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, in Jerusalem on Jan. 24, 2025. The Anti-Defamation League reported a 140 percent increase in assaults, harassment, and vandalism targeting Jewish people after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel. Ahmad GharabliI / AFP via Getty Images

As the Feldmans watched the news reports coming out of Israel, their position on guns changed.

“My wife and I discussed it, and she asked me to purchase and train with a firearm, so that if need be, we would have one,” Feldman said.

Feldman, an Ohio lawyer, was reluctant to speak on the record. Like most of the others interviewed for this story, he requested to be identified with a pseudonym. He doesn’t want to make his family a target.

“The events that were unfolding around the world made my family feel unsafe,” he said.

Gayle Pearlstein, a Chicago-based firearms instructor, also felt unsafe. She said she was shocked by the attack on her people, and felt burdened to do something tangible, with results more immediate than financial donations.

A gun sits on a counter at Parma Armory Shooting Center in Parma, Ohio, on June 16, 2026. Lox and Loaded's Parma chapter meets at the shooting center monthly. The Jewish shooting club aims to establish a chapter in every state. Jonathan D. Williams | NationalPhotography.Us for The Epoch Times

“It was an action. I needed to fix this so people not just where I live, but people all over the world and the community, would know that there are [self-defense] lessons. We are a place where you can learn to defend yourself and learn tactical awareness,” Pearlstein said.

She contacted a local Jewish community group and began teaching lessons for free. Eventually, the group had grown large enough that she needed help. So she reached out to other groups and shooting ranges, and Lox and Loaded was born.

As word spread, chapters were opened in other states, and membership continued to grow. Pearlstein said Lox and Loaded now has more than 1,300 members distributed through 56 chapters in 23 states.

The organization’s growth caught the attention of a national organization looking for a pro-Second Amendment cause to support.

Justin Davis, director of public affairs for the National Rifle Association (NRA), said the association’s leadership was looking for a group to support, and Lox and Loaded seemed to be just the ticket.

He said CEO Doug Hamlin, expressing concern over the rise in anti-Semitism, asked the NRA leadership to be on the lookout for ways the gun group could help. Davis met Pearlstein at a gun industry trade show and knew they had found their cause. He expects the arrangement to be a long-term partnership.

“We partnered with Lox and Loaded to talk about the importance of firearm ownership, safety training, and understanding [the] patchwork of gun laws throughout this country,” Davis told The Epoch Times.

“Whether you’re Catholic, Baptist, or Jewish, you know you have to be looking out for the safety of your place of worship, and I’m glad Lox and Loaded is stepping up to do that.”

(Top and Bottom) Lox and Loaded Parma chapter instructor David Bloom (R) speaks to participants at the chapter's monthly training at Parma Armory Shooting Center in Parma, Ohio, on June 16, 2026. The group now has more than 1,300 members and 56 chapters in 23 states. Jonathan D. Williams | NationalPhotography.Us for The Epoch Times

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported a total of 8,873 anti-Semitic incidents, including assault, harassment, and vandalism, after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

According to the league, this is a 140 percent increase over 2022 and the most recorded since the ADL began tracking data in 1979.

Greg Khitrov has seen the impact this has had on the Jewish community in New York.

Khitrov is a federally licensed gun dealer and a New York state and NRA-certified firearms instructor. He works in Yonkers and said that since the Oct. 7 attacks, business has been booming. For many of his new customers, buying a firearm—let alone using it—had been almost unthinkable before the attacks.

“Historically speaking, Jews, especially New York Jews, they’re very liberal, and they’re very much against firearms. So, for them, it became a battle with themselves,” Khitrov told The Epoch Times.

But after protesters marched through New York City streets chanting “From the river to the sea,” Khitrov said neighbors who used to look askance at him became his customers. Most had little to no experience with firearms, he said.

“Buying a gun is not the end of the road, it’s only the beginning,” Khitrov said.

Firearms are displayed at the Parma Armory Shooting Center in Parma, Ohio, on June 16, 2026. The shooting of two Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington and an arson attack at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's mansion are among the reasons Jews feel targeted. Jonathan D. Williams | NationalPhotography.Us for the Epoch Times

He hosts a Lox and Loaded chapter at his store because it provides the training and support new gun owners need.

The group provides “a safe environment for people to come and ask ... anything they want, and we will absolutely work with them and make them feel comfortable,” he said.

Khitrov opened his chapter in March and currently has 60 members. He said chapters have since opened in Queens, Brooklyn, and Rockland County and on Long Island.

(Top) Parma Armory Shooting Center in Parma, Ohio, on June 16, 2026. The Lox and Loaded Parma chapter holds its monthly training at the facility. A national organization, Lox and Loaded aims to provide a safe environment for training and support for first time gun owners. (Bottom Left) A member of the Lox and Loaded Parma chapter aims at a target at the group's monthly gathering. The National Rifle Association has partnered with the rapidly growing organization. (Bottom Right) A Lox and Loaded member programs target distance before shooting, at the group's monthly gathering in Parma, Ohio, on June 16, 2026. Co-founder Ian Friedman said the mission of Lox and Loaded is broader than just helping the Jewish community. Jonathan D. Williams | NationalPhotography.Us for The Epoch Times

Jacob Cooper, an Ohio-based content creator, could be one of the new gun owners Khitrov talks about.

Speaking to The Epoch Times during a Lox and Loaded meeting, Cooper said he has lived in “sketchy” neighborhoods and never felt the need to arm himself. But with the rise of pro-Palestinian protests, it may be time to prepare, he said.

Cooper said he hasn’t been directly threatened, but he sees levels of anti-Semitism he’s never seen before. “Things are different now,” Cooper said.

Fifty-five percent of Jewish Americans reported experiencing anti-Semitism in the past year, according to national surveys conducted in March and June 2025 by the Jewish Federations and the ADL.

According to the groups’ report, “18 percent were either the victim of an assault, experienced threat of physical attack, or experienced verbal harassment due to their Jewish identity in the past year, while 36 percent witnessed actual or threatened antisemitic violence.”

The ADL reports that the May 21, 2025, murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington and the Dec. 16, 2025, stabbing of Elias Rosner in New York City marked the first times since 2019 that Jewish people had been killed in the United States because of their ethnicity.

Mourners gather at a vigil for victims of a shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum, outside the White House on May 22, 2025. Two Israeli Embassy staff members, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were gunned down after an event at the museum by a man shouting pro-Palestine slogans. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

In another high-profile attack, Cody Balmer broke into Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s official residence and started a fire on April 13, 2025. Balmer reportedly told police that he set fire to the Governor’s Mansion because he wanted to draw attention to the war in Gaza. Balmer subsequently pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison.

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These and other incidents are the reasons so many Jews are concerned that they may be targeted.

“The fact that antisemitic assaults have not decreased over two years since October 7, 2023, is a sobering reminder that this fight is far from over, and that the safety of Jewish communities depends on our collective willingness to meet this moment with urgency,” the report reads.

But for some, the issue is even larger than threats to the Jewish community. They say Lox and Loaded’s mission can help any threatened community.

Group co-founder and CEO Ian Friedman said society’s approach to the safety and security of the Jewish community should be the same for that of all communities. Most cultures want the same things, he said.

“I think that a person should be concerned about the well-being of the Jewish community, just because it’s the right thing to do, to care about other folks, even if they may have different beliefs,” Friedman told The Epoch Times.

Lox and Loaded Parma members practice shooting at their monthly training session at Parma Armory Shooting Center in Parma, Ohio, on June 16, 2026. Lox and Loaded trains Jewish Americans in firearm safety and self defense. Jonathan D. Williams | Nationalphotography.Us for The Epoch Times

Gina Vertucci owns and operates Forza Defense Firearms Training in Orange, California. Her sister Donna Luce helps her teach classes on tactics and personal defense.

The sisters, who opened a Lox and Loaded chapter in March, take their roles as instructors for group very seriously. They also take their faith very seriously. The women are devout Christians who say they are biblically mandated to do the work they are doing.

“I didn’t think twice about it,” Vertucci told The Epoch Times. “For me, it was a no-brainer.”

Forza Defense Training instructor Gina Vertucci teaches firearms training at FT3 Tactical shooting range, in Stanton, Calif., on June 19, 2026. Vertucci said her Christian faith is a motivation for her work with Lox and Loaded. John Fredricks/The Epoch TimesWe had a problem loading this article. Please enable javascript or use a different browser. If the issue persists, please visit our help center.