Yehuda Remer, the Pew Pew Jew, on Safety On and Never Again

Yehuda Remer, known across the gun community as the Pew Pew Jew, is the author of the Safety On children’s firearm safety books and an outspoken voice for Jewish gun ownership. In this April 2019 conversation for the Minuteman University interview series, he explains how a family argument led to a book that more than 60 publishers and agents turned down, and why he believes “never again” requires action. It is a story about persistence, firearm safety education and refusing to stay quiet.

A Family Argument That Became a Book

Remer was already a gun owner, married with two young children, when the idea for his first book took shape. He had kept his firearms quiet around his parents. Then one day his younger brother let it slip that he owned a Glock, and his parents called him irresponsible.

Instead of getting defensive, Remer asked himself a better question: how could a gun owner with small children at home be as responsible as possible? His research turned up a surprising gap. There were books to help parents talk to children about firearms, but almost nothing written for children to read themselves. He decided to write one.

The result was Safety On, told through the eyes of a young boy named Kyle. That choice was deliberate. Remer wanted the book to feel like one child talking to another (“my dad taught me”) rather than an adult lecturing. The book teaches that guns come in many shapes and colors, including a pink one that could look like a toy, so children learn that anything that looks like a gun deserves respect and the same safety rules. He later turned the story into a coloring book so kids could engage with it further.

Five Years and More Than 60 Rejections

Getting the book published was a long fight. Remer was turned down by more than 30 publishing companies and more than 30 literary agents. He was finishing the manuscript and shopping it around in the aftermath of Sandy Hook, a hard time to find anyone willing to publish a pro-gun children’s book. It took him five years.

Along the way, a friend in the Los Angeles Police Department gave the manuscript a tough critique that sharpened it. Remer earned an endorsement from Allen West, and Gunsite Academy agreed to carry the book. One of the biggest boosts came from novelist Andrew Klavan, whom Remer knew from his time writing for Ben Shapiro. Klavan warned him that he rejects nearly every manuscript he is sent. He came back with a different verdict: the book needed to be on the market.

Remer says his biggest hurdle was not the publishing industry or the politics. It was believing in himself. He keeps a reminder on his Instagram that lists the rejections, the times he almost quit and the five years it took, ending with a simple conclusion: in America, if you dream it, it can happen.

Never Again Means Doing Something

Remer does not claim to speak for all Jews. His goal is to show America that not all Jews are anti-gun. He notes that some of the country’s most prominent gun control advocates in government are Jewish, which has given the community an anti-gun reputation, and he wants Jewish gun owners to be visible and vocal.

“Never again means nothing if you’re not willing to do something about it.”

Yehuda Remer

The interview took place just days after a deadly shooting at a synagogue, and Remer says attacks like that are exactly why he does this work. As an Orthodox Jew talking openly about firearms, he wants to inspire other Jews to visit the range and see gun ownership in a new light. His position on people who disagree is clear and fair.

“If you want to be anti-gun, by all means that’s your right, but don’t take away my ability to defend myself.”

Yehuda Remer

His own synagogue has been supportive. His rabbi knows he carries, and he has become the congregation’s resident gun guy, answering questions, taking members shooting and hosting an event at his home with the executive director of A Girl & A Gun. He also notes that more rabbis are giving congregants their blessing to carry on the Sabbath because of rising antisemitism. Being public has a cost. Remer has received antisemitic hate online, but his followers consistently rush to his defense.

Why He Stays in the Fight

Asked what drives him, Remer gives two answers. The first is the Second Amendment itself, which he sees under pressure from the left and at times from the right, and which needs as many people as possible committed to defending it. The second is personal. After a little over two years in the firearms world, he says he cannot imagine being anywhere else, because the people in the gun community are the best group of people he has ever worked with.

He also believes the community could lighten up. His Instagram mixes humor, gun memes, news and real conversation, because the work is serious but people do not need to take themselves too seriously. The Pew Pew Jew name came from friends in the industry who appreciated his self-deprecating sense of humor, and he embraced it.

Practical Lessons for Advocates Who Create

Remer’s experience offers concrete advice for anyone producing 2A books, designs or other content. After paying roughly $1,000 for his first ten illustrations, he taught himself Adobe Illustrator and now creates most of his own pro-Second Amendment shirt designs. That cut costs and gave his work a recognizable style.

On publishing, he went with a traditional publisher, White Feather Press, for his first book because it gave the project credibility and connections. His publisher, himself a firearms author and instructor, introduced him to many people in the industry. Once Remer had built a following, he self-published later titles such as The ABCs of Guns, keeping more control and more of the revenue. His takeaway: relationships with people in the advocacy world, built one at a time, are something no publisher can buy for you.

Watch the full interview

Video: LIVE with Yehuda Remer AKA The Pew Pew Jew – Writer, 2A Activist on the Gun Websites YouTube channel.