Mass killing at Jerusalem synagogue, Israel vows to crack down....

500K guns in civilian hands in Israel? There are more guns in any randomly chosen county in Indiana!

Israel was founded by hard-core Socialists, I do not see them easing controls over guns anytime soon.

Israel has very tight gun controls. Firstly, you have to have been in the army before they will even consider allowing you to possess a weapon. The good part is that there are no restrictions on carry once you do get your permit. Secondly, there are yearly ammo restrictions if you do get a permit. Lastly, if you do get a permit, it is for that specific firearm only.

I'm not sure about the 500,000 civilian gun number, but I feel that is from the 18-20 year olds in the army that take their weapons home with them when they are off duty and the male population that return every year for a few weeks to do their reservist work that is required. I know for sure that the permitted amount of firearms owners is much smaller than that number, like ~150,000.

On a sort of related note:

http://20committee.com/2014/10/30/poland-prepares-for-russian-invasion/

Poland Prepares for Russian Invasion
October 30, 2014
...
Ever since Moscow’s aggression against Kyiv became overt in the spring, the Polish MoD began quietly standing up volunteer forces to bolster the armed forces, should the Russians come again. Word of this became public this week with a story in the Polish edition of Newsweek that details what’s been going on behind the scenes. Building on shooting clubs that exist all over the country, possessing several hundred thousand members, the MoD has been supporting the establishment of paramilitary units that would bolster the army if needed. Their intent would be to counter Russian irregulars, GRU’s “little green men” that caused such havoc in Crimea a few months ago.
...

Israel is not really loosening anything, certainly not gun ownership. Note that the Public Security Minister is allegedly loosening restrictions only on people who ALREADY have legal access to a firearm, and that includes the military. I think his announcement was mostly propaganda to make the government look stronger.

According to this article: http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-israel-unlike-the-us-a-privilege-but-no-right-to-bear-arms/,

and this one, http://www.thebangswitch.com/visiting-an-israeli-gun-shop/

from 2012, only 2.5%, or about 170,000, of the Israeli civilian population are licensed to carry a firearm -- and the number of those who do carry is far smaller. 40,000 of those licensed are security guards.

Other articles indicate that if you do manage to get a license -- which is highly discretionary on the part of the government -- you can buy one pistol (and only rarely a rifle)...for life. Choose wisely. Air guns also require licenses.

Thus it is highly unlikely that there are actually 500K firearms in the "civilian" population without counting off-duty military, as "anonymous" noted above, altho its possible there are people who own more than one from the "old days."

Whoops, it was Cory that pointed out that the military take-homes probably accounts for a large chunk of the 500K.

One additional note: The Israelis accord citizenship to Arabs legally living within Israel, and there are even Arab members of the Knesset. Some of those Arab citizens even serve in other parts of the government and in the military, but there are certainly Israeli Arabs who sympathize and support the Arab and Iranian groups who lob rockets and suicide attacks into Israel.

In any scheme where private possession and carry of firearms by Israeli citizens becomes US-like, it is likely a number of citizens who are hostile to Israel will be armed as well. I suspect this also exerts a braking effect on any effort to widen firearms possession in the country.