A friend offered to give me a gun last night.

I’ve never owned a gun. Never wanted to own a gun. Have always tried to avoid guns.

Once, back when I was a teenager and my father was living in Arizona, one of his friends shamed me into using a rifle to kill a rattlesnake we discovered while on a hiking trip. It was one of the worst experiences of my adolescence.

It was the last time I handled a gun.

Tracie and I share a personal aversion to guns. We are avid supporters of anti-gun groups.

Yet, last night, a friend wrote me to share his family’s solidarity with ours and in case I felt the need, he’d be happy to give me a weapon.

He’s not just any friend. He’s one of the best people I know in Houston, someone who literally puts his life on the line for his community every day. He knows a lot about firearms. It’s part of what he does for a living.

It felt good to know that someone like him is looking out for us. He shared his wishes that our friends and family be safe.

But then the thought hit me: do I need to get a gun? Is my family in danger?

Is it in more danger than it was when Hamas attacked Israel?

The world is a different place than it was a week ago. Today, schools in capitals across the world are closing for fear of violence against families like ours.

The Hamas Charter quotes the Prophet:

The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.

Chilling words to any Jew, anywhere in the world — including Houston.

Our family’s heartfelt thanks go out to all our friends who have called to share their solidarity. Their words mean more to us than they can know.

Let’s all pray for peace.