General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is there any reasonable argument that the second amendment is actually a good thing? [View all]Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)The Second protects the peoples' right to keep and bear arms. The Feds made it clear, through the "militia clause," that they have an interest in this right, since they are charged with calling up the militia, as per the Articles. Whether or not the militia is "outdated," the essential individual right remains, and is not dependent on the Fed's militia interest in that right.
What ever constituted "militia" in the South, the use of such to hunt and capture slaves was made a lot easier by keeping guns away from slaves. Here is an example where slaves escaped plantations, and were defeated by local "militia."
"The Stono Rebellion, in 1739, was the largest slave revolt in colonial America. Slaves along the Stono River in South Carolina, some of whom had served as soldiers in Africa before being sold into slavery, planned their actions carefully.
After seizing weapons, the slaves, in military formation and flying flags, tried to march south to Florida. The local militia located and attacked them, killing many."
http://afroamhistory.about.com/b/2012/01/09/slave-rebellions.htm
Arms don't guarantee you will live or die, be freed from slavery or remain in slavery, but the first stop of the Stono slaves was the local equivalent of the "gun shop." Jim Crow-era Southern states enacted laws to keep blacks from obtaining arms, and they were enforced with questionable success until -- voila! -- the Civil Rights Acts of the mid-1960s. But the 1968 Gun Control Act was an attempt to once again disarm blacks:
"Even gun control advocate Robert Sherrill claimed: 'The Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed not to control guns but to control blacks.'"[17]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_night_special
And so it continues. But fortunately, the earlier Civil Rights Acts, knocked the slats from under Jim Crow laws in the Southern states. Unfortunately, ol' Jim Crow flew north and found a warm place to shit.
A brief submitted in the Heller decision sums up the history of racist gun-control legislation. It was submitted, in a true irony, by
http://www.georgiacarry.org/