Firing Back at Jim Crow - Editorial by the Wall Street Journal

MODERATOR NOTE - this is a good topic. Broader non-2A comments aren't and can result in penalties for violating the Code of Conduct and post deletion.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board published an interesting editorial today about one aspect of the RKBA:

Search on Google for “white supremacy” and “gun rights” and you’ll see plenty of articles claiming the Second Amendment is a tool for white America. But a new paper from Clemson University economists Michael Makowsky and Patrick Warren finds the opposite is true. They say gun ownership helped black Americans defend themselves when no one else would. The key finding of “Firearms and Lynching” is clear: “Rates of Black lynching decreased with greater Black firearm access” in the Jim Crow South. In other words, when black Americans couldn’t count on the cops to protect them, guns made a difference."​

The Clemson paper can be downloaded at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3727462

I can't post the whole WSJ article, which summarizes the Clemson paper, because the printed version specifically says -- "This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law."

 

I’m glad someone noticed how that works. It’s almost like study of facts leads to truth, even if you don’t like it.

 

I have pointed this out to many of my friends that blindly vote democratic tickets. Yes it was the Southern Democrats that passed all of the Jim Crow Laws.

Missouri got rid of the last Jim Crow law in 2007 when the need for a permit to purchase from the Sheriff was needed before one could buy a handgun. There was definitely no need for it since FFL's had been doing NICS checks since 1998.

 

Yep.
The weapons laws that are slowly being weeded out of the Texas law books were originally intended to keep 'native Americans' and poor Hispanics from being able to defend themselves... .

 

Same thing with the Indians, the gov decided, after they figured genocide wasn't going to work or work fast enough that Indians just weren't US citizens and therefor didn't have any rights.
Just imagine if the government had to fill out a 4473. 11a , mmmm kinda.
Then the one about domestic abuse and restraining orders? Yeah the civil war comes to mind and all those times the courts ordered the government to leave the Indians alone, but the government killed them anyways.

 

In his Message to Congress urging passage of the Ku-Klux Acts, President Grant noted that among the Klan's many crimes was:
"They have conspired to deny Negro citizens the right to own and bear arms."

 

It's a complex issue in that peoples' opinions and attitudes about who can have firearms, and where they can have them, have changed over time and will likely change again during our lifetimes.

https://sites.law.duke.edu/secondthoughts/2020/04/08/the-black-panthers-nra-ronald-reagan-armed-extremists-and-the-second-amendment/#:~:text=In 1967, California codified into,governmental license to do so.

 

No surprise. The NRA was founded by two Union officers who advocated for newly freed slaves to be armed. What the NRA does now is a very different story. I have seen antis spin this history into calling the 2A was to give "white people" access to firearms to slaughter minorities. While that happened in history, it was not the intent of the 2A.

 

Right now, all laws directed at 'things' ignore the reality that simple bad conduct - ignoring signals for pedestrians, parking without regard to lines or other conditions - and crime is due to human decision and desire. Fast cars, booze, firearms, matches, heavy walking sticks can all be used for evil. But only if the human perpetrator has the impulse.
Any law limiting access to firearms is for control of the population.

 

At the outdoor gun range I frequent I routinely see a couple dozen black shooters every trip whereas a couple years ago I only saw a handful of black shooters (almost all of whom were ex-military). The new black guys are mostly shooting handguns with a few ARs (mostly pistols and carbines) thrown in. The ex-military black guys were mostly shooting rifles at the long ranges. So where I shoot there has definitely been a marked change. It's good to see them working to become proficient with their firearms rather than buying them and sticking them in a drawer like a lot of new gun owners I know.

 

A while back I read an article that said the NRA endorsed state legislation for blacks to own firearms in order to fight back against the KKK. I believe the year was 1927.
How soon people forget.

 

NYC’s initial series anti gun laws over 100 years ago were aimed squarely at immigrants. This article says it was focused primarily at Italians.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/06/30/opinions/new-york-gun-law-second-ammendment-moses/index.html

I, too see hispanic, black, asian and anglo shooters all the time at my local indoor range. About 25% are female.

Glad to see a variety of people taking up the shooting sports, I welcome them all.

Stay safe.

 

I see a large diversity of folks at the LGS and Cabelas purchasing firearms in WNY. In TX, there were many Hispanics in competition.

The problem for the classic progun organizations is the motivation of minority groups now. The past history of the NRA and the Klan isn't really relevant but this would take us into issues not THR safe.

 

I'm probably in the minority on this opinion, but I get sick and tired of race being THE delineating factor in how the govt, the media, and other partisan groups frame every situation/argument. I thought about this yesterday when I was filling out the 4473 at the LGS and answered the two questions (18a/b) on ethnicity and race and thought "does race really matter in this process?"

The only thing I see race being used for is to divide people to gain money and control, almost exclusively by the government and other groups trying to get more money and control. What would happen if we all refused to be categorized based on skin color or origin and identified just as Americans; to focus on the things that highlight our similarities rather than our differences?

Of course, the politicians and race baiters would fight that with every atom in their sleazy, greasy little bodies because that would negatively impact their cottage industry and their pocketbooks.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox.

 

The pistol permit law here in NC is an old Jim crow law. It was written so the sheriff of a county can deny a permit without having to give a reason. How do you think this was used in the 1960's?

 

Ironically, the husband of my wife’s old friend made a stuck up conment.

He is from near Nashville, and ironically also,
Was a Navy P-3 pilot and NATOPS evaluator.

He votes “D”and told me that “Every redneck has a gun” in a slightly negative tone. He’s such a FUDD, and by the way carries a 1911.

 

Na ja

Doopelgänger.

 

“Judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.”

A pretty sharp man said that once.

I wish that this dream was how it is. Maybe someday it will be.

Stay safe.

 

I've long felt that if the kluxers had been met by a load of buckshot when they attempted to terrorize a family, their enthusiasm for prancing around in robes and hoods would have been severly diminished.

In the late 1800's my state, Arkansas, had a law on the books that prohibited the carry of any but the "Army or Navy" pistols. Given their cost this was designed to disarm the poor, both black and white. Shades of the Saturday night specials bans that were sought in the 1970's.

 

I don't think you are.

 

I'm so tired of this 'race' nonsense.
Race is based on the concept that there are greater and lesser races, like horses and donkeys, and that crossing members of these races results in an even lesser creature like a mule.

This was the message spread by the Klan.

There is only one human race.
Minor ethnic differences don't make a meaningful difference.
Basing rights, duties or responsibilities on these ethnic differences reduces us to the level of Klansmen... .