Closing
Since the earliest days of Georgia, gun control played a critical role in the oppression of blacks. In the antebellum period, slaves and freedmen were prohibited from possessing firearms since they were not considered citizens. After the ratification of the 14th Amendment, the General Assembly developed new strategies to achieve their goal of disarming blacks with the public gathering and licensing laws that appeared to be race neutral but were selectively applied to blacks only.
These laws and subsequent court decisions with their offensive history and basis are still in effect in Georgia. Georgians continue to suffer with location prohibitions more restrictive than any other state and a licensing process that in some respects is still capricious and discriminatory.
Our nation's forefathers knew that for the people to remain in a free state, the right to keep and bear arms had to be protected from government regulation. Today, some Georgians claim that gun control is a "reasonable restriction.” Is denying the right of self defense to the marchers in Camilla and the families in Brownsville a "reasonable restriction"? The participants in these events would say that these laws enforce and perpetuate racism, oppression and white supremacy.
"To disarm the people is the most
effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason
Cover Credits
Gray, James, Editor, Disarm The Negroes, Atlanta Journal, September 25, 1906, page 6, title of editorial
Burns, Rebecca, Four Days of Rage, Atlanta Magazine, September 2006, page 140, picture cut from larger picture.
Acknowledgements
The following institutions and resources were critical to writing this paper. I wish to thank them all.
Kennesaw State University Library
Kennan Research Center, Atlanta History Center Archives
Clayton Cramer, whose paper The Racist Roots of Gun Control, was the
inspiration for this paper. This paper can be found here:
http://www.georgiacarry.org/cms/geo...s-carry-laws/the-racist-roots-of-gun-control/
Mark Bauerline who wrote Negrophobia. Negrophobia is the story of the
Atlanta Race Riot and is an excellent book.
About The Author
Michael Menkus is a member of GEORGIACARRY.ORG, an organization working to restore the right to keep and bear arms in Georgia. Michael is a Professional Engineer with a BS degree in Geophysical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines. His hobbies include stock market investing and competitive pistol shooting.
Document Usage
Copyright © 2007 by GEORGIACARRY.ORG, All rights reserved. Reproduction, distribution and posting on websites is permitted for all Pro-Gun, Pro-Self Defense, and Pro-2nd Amendment organizations and individuals. Reproduction, distribution and posting on websites is permitted for all students, researchers, and educators.
Footnotes
1 Grant, Donald, The Way It Was In the South – The Black Experience In Georgia, Carol Publishing Group, 1993, page 44- 54
2 Grant, Donald, The Way It Was In the South – The Black Experience In Georgia, Carol Publishing Group, 1993, page 8 3 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Nat Turner,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner 4
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/JACOBS/hj-natturner.htm 5 Grant, Donald, The Way It Was In the South – The Black Experience In Georgia, Carol Publishing Group, 1993, page 68 6 Grant, Donald, The Way It Was In the South – The Black Experience In Georgia, Carol Publishing Group, 1993, page 68
7 Grant, Donald, The Way It Was In the South – The Black Experience In Georgia, Carol Publishing Group, 1993, page 32
8 Georgia Legislative Documents, GALILEO, Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, Passed in Milledgeville, at an annual session in November and December, 1833 Vol. 1 --Page: 226,
www.galileo.usg.edu 9 Nunn v. State 1 Ga. (1 Kel.) 243 1846,
http://www.georgiapacking.org/caselaw/nunnvstate.htm 10 Cooper and Worsham v. Savannah, 4 Ga. 68, 1848,
http://www.georgiapacking.org/caselaw/cooperworshamvsavannah.htm 11 Atlanta Constitution, Difficulty With Negroes In Mitchell County, Sept 22 1868, page 1 12 Myrick-Harris, Clarissa, The 1906 Atlanta Race Riot: An Explanatory Timeline,
http://www.1906atlantaraceriot.org/CMH_Coalition_Timeline.pdf
13 Grant, Donald, The Way It Was In the South – The Black Experience In Georgia, Carol Publishing Group, 1993, page 103-106 14
Howard, O. H., Affidavit of Daniel Howard: Albany, Georgia, 1868 Sept. 25, Digital Library of Georgia > Civil Unrest in Camilla, Georgia, 1868,
http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/camilla/cam039.php 15 New Georgia Encyclopedia, The Camilla Massacre,
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-639
16 Morgan, Jeanette, Digital Library of Georgia, Civil Unrest in Camilla, Georgia, 1868,
http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/camilla/camilla-history.php 17 Picture in paragraph is from Nast, Thomas, Harpers Weekly, The New Georgia Encyclopedia, Camilla Massacre,
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-639
18 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, page 79 19 Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia, A Brief History of Georgia Counties,
http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/countyhistory.htm
20 Grant, Donald, The Way It Was In the South – The Black Experience In Georgia, Carol Publishing Group, 1993, page 32
21 Georgia Legislative Documents, GALILEO, Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, At the session of 1870, with an appendix, containing the Government and Court Calendar, etc. Public Laws 1870, Vol. 3 – Page 42,
www.galileo.usg.edu 22 Grant, Donald, The Way It Was In the South – The Black Experience In Georgia, Carol Publishing Group, 1993, page 122 23 Harpers Weekly, The New Georgia Encyclopedia, Voter Registration,
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Multimedia.jsp?id=m-800
24
Myrick-Harris, Clarissa, The 1906 Atlanta Race Riot: An Explanatory Timeline,
http://www.1906atlantaraceriot.org/CMH_Coalition_Timeline.pdf
25 Burns, Rebecca, Four Days of Rage, Atlanta Magazine, Sept 06, page 142 - 143 26 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 135-173 27 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 135-173 28 Burns, Rebecca, Four Days of Rage, Atlanta Magazine, Sept 06, page 141- 155 29 Burns, Rebecca, Four Days of Rage, Atlanta Magazine, Sept 06, page 141 -155 30 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 145-173 31 Burns, Rebecca, Four Days of Rage, Atlanta Magazine, Sept 06, page 145, 155 32 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 174 and 177 33 Atlanta Constitution, September 23, 1910, page 1 34 Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center, Le Petit Journal, Oct. 7, 1906, Kathy Lohr, Century-Old Race Riot Still Resonates in
Atlanta, NPR,
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6106285 35 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, page 205 36 Burns, Rebecca, Four Days of Rage, Atlanta Magazine, Sept 06, page 156-157 37 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 179-186 38 Myrick-Harris, Clarissa, The 1906 Atlanta Race Riot: An Explanatory Timeline,
http://www.1906atlantaraceriot.org/CMH_Coalition_Timeline.pdf
39 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 195 40 Myrick-Harris, Clarissa, The 1906 Atlanta Race Riot: An Explanatory Timeline,
http://www.1906atlantaraceriot.org/CMH_Coalition_Timeline.pdf
41 Myrick-Harris, Clarissa, The 1906 Atlanta Race Riot: An Explanatory Timeline,
http://www.1906atlantaraceriot.org/CMH_Coalition_Timeline.pdf
42 Burns, Rebecca, Four Days of Rage, Atlanta Magazine, Sept 06, page 156 -157 43 Myrick-Harris, Clarissa, The 1906 Atlanta Race Riot: An Explanatory Timeline,
http://www.1906atlantaraceriot.org/CMH_Coalition_Timeline.pdf
44 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 251 -252 45 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 249-252 46 Burns, Rebecca, Four Days of Rage, Atlanta Magazine, Sept 06, page 158
47 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 197– 199 48 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 199 -203 49 Atlanta Journal, Town of Brownsville Is Taken By Militia, September 25, 1906 50 Burns, Rebecca, Four Days of Rage, Atlanta Magazine, Sept 06, page 158 - 160
Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 200, 251-251 52 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, pages 201 53 Atlanta Journal, Town of Brownsville Is Taken By Militia, September 25, 1906 54 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, page 201 55 Atlanta Journal, Town of Brownsville Is Taken By Militia, September 25, 1906 56 Bauerlein, Mark, Negrophobia a race riot in Atlanta, 1906, Encounter Books, 2001, page 204 57 Gray, James, Editor, Disarm The Negroes., Atlanta Journal, September 25, 1906, page 6 58 Atlanta Journal, Town of Brownsville Is Taken By Militia, September 25, 1906 59 Grant, Donald, The Way It Was In the South – The Black Experience In Georgia, Carol Publishing Group, 1993, page 182-190
60 Grant, Donald, The Way It Was In the South – The Black Experience In Georgia, Carol Publishing Group, 1993, page 209 -211
61 Dittmer, John, Black Georgia in the Progressive Era 1900 – 1920, University of Illinois Press, 1977, page 100 – 103
66 Atlanta Constitution, Supreme Court Upholds Alabama's Pistol Law, Jan 24, 1909, pg A3
67 Watson v. Stone, 4 So.2d 700, 703 (Fla. 1941)
68 Georgia Legislative Documents, GALILEO Digital Initiative Database, ACTS AND RESOLUTIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
62 The Trial of Democracry: Black Suffrage and Northern Republicans, 1860-1910 by Xi Wang page 260 University of Georgia Press 1997
63 Atlanta Journal, Disfranchisement is Accomplished, Oct 8, 1908, pg 6
64 Atlanta Journal, Disfranchisement is Accomplished, Oct 8, 1908, pg 6
65 Atlanta Journal, New Pistol Law Not Effective, Oct 5, 1908, page 3
THE STATE OF GEORGIA. 1910 , Part I.--PUBLIC LAWS.
TITLE VI. MISCELLANEOUS. , 1910 Vol. 1 -- Page: 134, Sequential Number: 077,
Short Title: PISTOLS, CARRYING OF PROHIBITED. , Law Number: No. 432.
69 Halfhill, Tom, Tom’s Inflation Calculator,
http://www.halfhill.com/inflation.html
70 Atlanta Constitution, First Arrest Made Under New Pistol Toting Law, Dec 23, 1910, page 9