So Garry McCarthy, Chicago Police Superintendent, links federal gun control regulation to racism. Turns out he is right, but not in the sense he means. First, his comments: “I want you to connect one more dot on that chain of African-American history in this country, and tell me if I’m crazy: Federal gun laws that facilitate the flow of illegal firearms into our urban centers, across this country, that are killing black and brown children,”Well, Garry, you are crazy. Keeping guns out of the hands of blacks and Hispanics has been the racist goal of gun control attempts. A review of the historical record reveals that gun control in America has been directed at keeping guns out of the hands of blacks. Historian Clayton Cramer argues
"The historical record provides compelling evidence that racism underlies gun control laws -- and not in any subtle way. Throughout much of American history, gun control was openly stated as a method for keeping blacks and Hispanics "in their place," and to quiet the racial fears of whites."
He cites numerous examples starting with those that predate the American revolution. As late as 1941 the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court openly acknowledges that a gun control law was intended to only apply to non-whites:
I know something of the history of this legislation. The original Act of 1893 was passed when there was a great influx of negro laborers in this State drawn here for the purpose of working in turpentine and lumber camps. The same condition existed when the Act was amended in 1901 and the Act was passed for the purpose of disarming the negro laborers and to thereby reduce the unlawful homicides that were prevalent in turpentine and saw-mill camps and to give the white citizens in sparsely settled areas a better feeling of security. The statute was never intended to be applied to the white population and in practice has never been so applied.
Garry McCarthy should be ashamed to assert that an assertion of the right to own a gun is racist, when in fact it is gun control that is the historically racist position.
States Rights was a historically racist position. Does that denigrate its validity among non-racists today?
ReplyDeleteNo. I am merely rebutting an unfounded accusation of racism, by showing that the initial motives of the kinds of laws supported by Garry McCarthy were themselves motivated by racism. Gun control and states rights arguments should not be argued on whether or not they are racist, but rather on their constitutional merits. Appeals to race and charges of racism poison the discussion.
ReplyDeleteThe government cannot regulate a right. No need to register guns because it is your right to bear arms. Carry as you will. If it is your property it is government's job to protect your property not steal it or arrest you for having it. If the government does anything other than secure the blessings of your liberty then they are violating their contractual duty and can be brought to justice under common law breach of contract. The officers are immune under statute and code but the man or woman is not immune under common law. Common law is the path to remedy. If they take your property arrest the man or woman (not the "officer") under common law for breach of contract and seek justice to its end. If you know what a right is and know how to use the system to protect your rights then you will be able to put the crats into their proper service or put them in jail. No mercy. Fill the courts with common law cases against the men and women who have willingly signed the contract and breached their duty. Do not stop until they either uphold the contracts or the courts are full with an angry populace demanding justice. They will be out of time and something will have to give. RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD...
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