Gun rights fanatics and some moderates say gun control is racist

Ladd Everitt Director of Communications for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has written an article on racism as a concept to explain gun control.  You might laugh at the thought that the gun nuts would come up with this ridiculous hypothesis, but in his piece, Ladd quotes author Adam Winkler, who is a UCLA Law Professor, as declaring that “gun control is racist” in his new book, Gunfight. 

According to Everitt, Winkler implies that gun control is defined by extremists who want to take away all guns from owners and establish a system much like the United Kingdom.  I have been writing on gun control for over seven years now and know this is not true as Ladd Everitt confirms.  He even cites others who concur like Sen. Chuck Schumer, (D-NY) and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns. 

See Ladd Everitt question Adam Winkler over racism and gun control below:

There are others that add to this misconception like historian and author, Clayton E. Cramer, who says, “The historical record provides compelling evidence that racism underlies gun control laws -- and not in any subtle way.”  He underlines that with, “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.”  Shades of Mississippi and Arizona.

Cramer continues in his article with examples like the French Black Code that required Louisiana colonists to stop and if necessary beat blacks carrying any weapon, even a walking cane.  He also talks about the Haitian Revolution of the 1790s, the fear of the first North American English colonies slave revolts, and the 1834 change to the Tennessee Constitution that allowed only “white” men to bear arms in their defense. 

The author sums up the article with the statement, “…gun control has historically been a tool of racism, and associated with racist attitudes about black violence.”  Interesting, but still not proving a real connection between gun control and racism other than the fact that the days of slavery in this country were violent ones.

Everitt says that Winkler “…even acknowledges that an overwhelming majority of African-Americans today support strong, strict gun laws.”  And he adds that “Winkler can cite no example of the contemporary gun control movement being racist.”  This is a modern day comparison unlike the historical one by Cramer. 

And growing up in the South in Mississippi and Tennessee, I was well aware of the killings of the Ku Klux Klan. 



KKK hanging



Once, after I was old enough to drink I said to my father when we were having a beer together in a local Tennessee tavern, that I thought the KKK was a bunch of illiterate barbarian murderers.  He quietly let me know that this wasn’t something you said in this part of the country, particularly in a saloon where everyone had been drinking.  Actually, I grew up in this West Tennessee small town thinking I was the one that was crazy because of my beliefs, but I never gave them up.  I was for gun control then and not once experienced anything racist about it.

If you are interested, I would suggest that you Google “gun control is racist” to see a multitude of sites on the subject.  The gun rights extremists will go to any length to try and prove their point that everyone should be able to own a gun, no matter what their status, and be allowed to take their firearms anywhere in the USA—perhaps even the world—they want to.  But connecting gun control to racism is just wrong.

More gun sense and nonsense

Starting with the ridiculous, New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg has shown the gun freaks once again that he means business.  Some time back he demonstrated how some low-lifes in Arizona and elsewhere in the country were willing and anxious to sell guns to people they had reason to believe did not have the right to own them.  You can read more on this in an earlier Nasty Jack post.

 

In my post, Bloomberg and Thomas Menino, Mayor of Boston and co-founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, were asking for an overhaul of the background-check system for gun purchases which allowed such massacres as the one at Virginia Tech which killed 32 people, injuring 17 others, and the most recent in Tucson, Arizona killing 6 and injuring 13, including U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords from Arizona.



Craigslist-New York

But the latest that Bloomberg/Menino have come up with exposes the gun industry once again as being irresponsibly relentless in its pursuit to make firearms available to anyone, no matter what their past, or whether they are fit to own a weapon.  The mayors’ sting operation centered on the online marketplace, particularly Craigslist and Web sites selling firearms. 

These reprehensible gun nuts were willing to sell to NYC investigators that clearly admitted they were probably unable to pass a background check.  Some even said they were too young to buy a gun legally.  These private sellers are not required to make a background check, but knowingly selling to someone who admits to not being able to pass one is a felony.  Just more of the NRA’s best.  In all fairness, there were other instances where the seller refused to make the deal.

And then there was the person who could lose their 2^nd Amendment rights over having a medical marijuana card, which borders on ridiculous.  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) now says you will lose a “key constitutional right” if you let your state know you take pot medicinally.  Arizona’s make-believe governor, Jan Brewer, and Michigan’s attorney general are already interfering with medical marijuana laws legally passed by their constituents.

In a Nevada case, a woman is challenging this BATFE ruling after trying to buy a gun and being turned down.  If her intent is to have the weapon in her home for protection, it is absurd that the government would deny her this 2^nd Amendment right just because she uses the medical marijuana for pain.  However, in terms of issuing her a concealed carry permit to walk the streets with her weapon, I would be absolutely against this and another court case in Oregon is pending on this issue.  It all comes down to what’s reasonable and both sides must give.

Guns and marijuana

Where’s the NRA when you need them?  Just let a situation like this get a little touchy, in this case involving medical marijuana, and they tuck their tail between their legs and hide.  Other larger gun organizations have done the same.  But it could all come down to an order from President Obama that directs BATFE to make an interpretation of the policy, which is in their discretion, to determine that these users are not unlawful due to their regulation under state law.  It’s all about bureaucracy and in this case the gun industry should win.

Democratic Boston Mayor Thomas Menino wants tougher gun laws

According to Brady Campaign Acting President Dennis Henigan, “The recent multiple shooting in Carson City, Nevada occurred despite the presence of an armed citizen. So did the mass shooting in Tucson.”  In other words this whole concealed-carry concept by the NRA and its boneheaded members is just hogwash.

Along with the other half of the founding Mayors Against Illegal Guns, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Menino is heading to the U.S. Congress to try and convince a bunch of unreasonable conservative gun bubbas—and even some Democrats—In both houses that the loose gun situation is out of control.  Menino and Bloomberg formed this coalition in 2006 and it has now grown to over 500 mayors in 40 states. 

Glock 19

They are asking for an overhaul of the background-check system for gun purchases which allowed such massacres as the one at Virginia Tech which killed 32 people, injuring 17 others, and the most recent in Tucson, Arizona killing 6 and injuring 13, including U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords from Arizona.  They both, known to be mentally ill, easily obtained a Glock 19 to do their dirty work, which emphasizes the need for more regulation.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns is supported by the Campaign to Fix Gun Checks, a non-profit organization to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.  The group says, “It’s time for common sense reforms to Fix Gun Checks and stem the tide of gun murders that leaves 34 Americans dead every day.”  With Arizona gun laws the loosest in the U.S., it is a wonder there haven’t been more incidents in that powder keg state.

And now a bill approved by The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in October is expected to go before the full House and be passed as early as today.  Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey and Representative Carolyn McCarthy of New York are asking President Obama to veto the bill if it comes to his desk.  The bill would make it easier for people to carry concealed handguns across state lines, observing the laws of their ownership state. 

This would immediately unleash a bunch of gun carrying fanatics from the state of Arizona across the country supported by laws that allow them to do just about anything they chose with their firearms.  People in that state can carry a concealed weapon without having a permit or any education in the handling of a gun.  It’s like buying bread at the local supermarket, only a loaf of bread won’t kill you.  It is lunacy at its highest level.



Mind you, these laws that allow guns on the street in anyone’s hands exist “…despite such evidence as the recent study by a Stanford economist demonstrating that right-to-carry laws do not decrease the overall level of crime and perhaps even increase it.”  You might remember that when Jared Loughner started shooting in Tucson, two gun-carrying cowboys came to the rescue and almost shot each other.

This fact is also supported by findings from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence which counters the National Rifle Assn. desire to allow gun owners to carry their guns anywhere they want to.  According to the Brady group, “The more lax the gun laws, the more likely that dangerous people will acquire handguns, as a recent report by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence profiling 13 murderers who held concealed-carry permits makes clear.”

The Brady Campaign is also fighting the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011, H.R. 822, sponsored by Congressmen Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and Heath Schuler (D-NC).  They also have a report out featuring the profiles of some of the worst concealed-carry killers including Jared Loughner, “…Paul Michael Merhige, who is charged with killing four family members on Thanksgiving in 2009, and Marqus Hill, who had had his license revoked but got it back and is charged with shooting a man 13 times, killing him.”

The Brady campaign also listed three primary reasons this bill would be dangerous for all.

1.    The legislation would override current state laws.

2.    It would force states to allow untrained visitors with guns like those from Arizona.

3.    New widely varying standards would apply in states with stricter rules.



Vigilante justice we don't need



According to Brady Campaign Acting President Dennis Henigan, “The recent multiple shooting in Carson City, Nevada occurred despite the presence of an armed citizen. So did the mass shooting in Tucson.”  In other words this whole concealed-carry concept by the NRA and its boneheaded members is just hogwash.