Police decided Wednesday night to return Rabbi Erez Bar-On’s gun, nine days after he used it to kill a terrorist in self-defense.  Police confiscated the weapon following the incident, and did not see fit to return it for over a week, forcing Rabbi Bar-On to travel the roads of Samaria without protection just days after facing a terrorist killer in the same area.

Police said earlier in the week that they had not finished analyzing the gun, and would return it when they were ready, possibly next week.  The gun was returned shortly after the case was exposed to local media. 

Rabbi Bar-On expressed satisfaction with the return of his weapon, saying, “Better late than never.”  Security forces praised Bar-On for his quick thinking last week, saying his fast response to the terrorist attack saved his life and that of 16-year-old Hillel Maeir.