Gun Control is Racist? Nonsense!

[SecularMotion]

While some moderate political commentators have flirted with the smear, the folks who are really pushing it are those you’d expect: the Washington Times, the National Review, self-employed pro-gun bloggers, etc. Which is why I was quite disturbed when I saw UCLA Law Professor Adam Winkler embrace the “gun control is racist” charge in his brand new book Gunfight.

-- snip --

Personally, I’m still waiting to find out which gun control organizations in the United States are advocating that we “eliminate all privately owned firearms.” I’ve been working in this movement now for over a decade and I have yet to meet them. In fact, I don’t know of any “dominant,” modern gun control organization that has ever argued for any such thing. And Winkler, of course, is well aware that the Supreme Court’s 2008 D.C. v. Heller decision took bans of anything but “dangerous and unusual” firearms completely off the table (in the minds of theCitizens United Five, this would likely include fully automatic machine guns andpossibly certain semiautomatic assault rifles, but nothing else). Gun bans are no longer a policy option even for select localities.

But that reality didn’t stop Winkler from throwing gun violence prevention advocates under the bus to sell books. And unfortunately, “extreme” isn’t the only label we were hit with. Because the gun rights movement is racist (Winkler notes that “one of the few places you can easily find virulent racist literature is at a gun show”), then the gun control movement has to be, too.

On this point his argument becomes even shakier. Winkler can cite no example of the contemporary gun control movement being racist. He even acknowledges that an overwhelming majority of African-Americans today support strong, strict gun laws. So his argument basically comes down to the fact that our Founders prohibited slaves from owning firearms and white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan have disarmed blacks at times while brutalizing and killing them. And that somehow adds up to gun control having “racist roots.” At the same time, Winkler curiously acknowledges that “many other laws” have been used to oppress African-Americans throughout our history. No kidding.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/guns/gun-control-racist-nonsense

[TPaine7]

1. Yawn...

[Glaug-Eldare]

2. Not many racists wear "white power" t-shirts

"Winkler can cite no example of the contemporary gun control movement being racist. He even acknowledges that an overwhelming majority of African-Americans today support strong, strict gun laws."

In District Court testimony supporting one of the last may-issue statutes in the country, MD Attorney-General Doug Gansler stated that there is an overriding public safety concern in preventing citizens in "urban Baltimore and Prince George's County" (the two majority-black regions of the state) from carrying guns. He also advanced scenarios in which he thinks previously law-abiding (black) citizens of these places are likely to murder each other. No mention was made of other (white) population centers like Annapolis, Frederick, or Gaithersburg. According to the AG's office, it is only the bloodthirsty negroes who will descend into barbarism if foolishly permitted to have arms.

Note that this testimony was given in 2012.

[GreenStormCloud]

3. They were racist in the application.

I am old enough that I remember the segregated restrooms and water fountains. It was well known, at the time, that the gun laws were not to be enforced against well behaved whites, but were to be strongly enforced against all blacks and latinos. They were like the old literacy tests that were required for voter registration.

[bongbong]

4. Guns!

Gun control is racist, since it prevents gun-nuts from going to rallies where White Power is talked about. How does it prevent attendance? Because the gun-nuts are too scared to leave the house without a gun!

[Glaug-Eldare]

6. You forgot something...

[beevul]

5. More from "lieing ladd everitt"

You'd think he might be able to at least spell his own name right.

[Eleanors38]

7. Keep bringing up the topic; folks will discover the deep racism behind gun-control...

From "Saturday Night Special" in Wikipedia:


"Even gun control advocate Robert Sherrill claimed: 'The Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed not to control guns but to control blacks.'"

Here at this site, you will find the meaning behind the term "Saturday Night Special:'' It is racist, denoting a cheaply made gun that only blacks would purchase for purposes of causing trouble. (The "special" aspect is a take-off of various popular calibers developed by Smith & Wesson -- not a cheap firearm -- as in .38 Spl or .44 Spl) Hence (for an example), "Hooo-WEEE! The Wildcats upset the Bulldogs! It'll be N-----town Saturday Night on the square tonight!"

Further investigation will reveal --

The SNS (or junk gun) derived from earlier "melting point laws" which sought to ban firearms whose metal went fluid at a legally-set temperature. William Hornaday (an early administrator of the Bronx Zoo) noted that these and other laws in the South which tried to restrict firearms for blacks were ineffective because they also would keep poor whites from obtaining cheap firearms. But Hornaday was not above advocating a ban if you were of Italian sentiment. And there are also provisions in some Jim Crow-era constitutions which actually gave rights to keep and bear arms upon application to the citizen's county sheriff. Good luck with that AND the voting literacy tests.

Today? Yep. The laws are called "may issue," as in we may issue you a permit for a firearm... if you are wealthy, a celebrity, politician, pro athlete, Diane Feinstein, or of a lighter skin color.

Oh, and don't forget R. Reagan's passage of gun-control... after the Black Panthers legally carried firearms into California's state house. Great pics of this, by the way.

[PavePusher]

8. These repeated attempts at denying racism are themselves racist as fuck.

These OP's should be locked, deleted and the OPer banned.

[SecularMotion]

9. Use the alert function

and quit your whining!