This Letter Sorta Covers It All

[BADUNAME4]

Some of our first modern gun control laws were designed, specifically, to prevent newly freed slaves from owning firearms. Being one who believes that those who rely on government are not free it's no surprise that Philly Democrats are perpetuating the same sort of environment that they did 140 years ago. And to think that places like New Jersey are apologizing for slavery when they still embrace it with the same vim and vigor as years past.
If one truly wishes to address the crime that's riddled places like Philadelphia look no further than the decades of abuse by the labor organizations who make widespread use of intimidation to drive out the competition. This, consequentially, drives out opportunities. The most productive way to address crime in Philly is to open the floodgates of opportunity that have been locked shut. The blood of many of those murdered every year in this city and others is on the hands of corrupt "leaders" and has nothing to do with guns.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Our first gun control laws were designed, specifically, to prevent newly freed slaves from owning firearms.

Sorry, but that's not true. The first so-called "gun control" laws were passed while we were still under British rule. Their expressly stated purpose was to prohibit both blacks and Indians from having guns.

 

[BADUNAME4]

Does adding "modern" fix it?

 

[ExSoldier]

Does adding "modern" fix it?

Depends on the definition of "modern." The "Black Codes" of the post civil war era which is also known as the era of "Jim Crow," could hardly be construed as modern laws. I would think that the Gun Control Act passed in the 1930s that banned the possession of full auto by private citizens would be more applicable. Even that didn't really BAN anything. Civilians can still own full auto and no permit is technically needed. All it requires is a paid tax stamp and an extensive background investigation as well as a letter of character reference from a Chief of Police or an elected official. Plus of course, the exhorbitant cost of the firearm itself, not to mention the costs of ammo to keep the beast fed.

 

[BADUNAME4]

Added "Some of...".
You people are good.

 

[hso]

Stay focused on the RKBA link to civil rights and avoid dilution of your argument by splitting your focus with the anti union issue.

 

[ExSoldier]

You people are good.

Thanks but it doesn't exactly apply to me. I teach American History and I still have a small bone of contention with your wording. Not trying to nit pick, either.

Nothing from the mid 1800s can be construed to apply as modern.

I don't know how else you might phrase it except to perhaps state that the "first gun control laws passed after the union was reunited following the civil war were directed against former slaves owning firearms..." How 'bout that?

 

[BADUNAME4]

Eliminated "modern".
As for the previous post, and I certainly may be wrong, but gun control issues don't stand alone. The higher gun control areas seem to also have higher levels of corruption, in general. And, cities owned by unions, like Philly and Detroit, seem to have common threads so I do believe that there is a connection. I strongly feel that the RKBA does not stand alone and it's barely scratching the surface (and is a sympton of) larger/deeper issues.
Your point is good, though, and well taken.
Thank you.

 

[ExSoldier]

I think it is far more germane when targeting northern gun laws to remind folks that in the years following the civil war (right up to the 1960s in fact) the Southern Democrat power structure in political control also was wearing those white sheets and burning crosses on Saturday nights. Reminding folks of their country's HISTORY is a way to highlight the importance of current events because as we all know: "History tends to repeat itself."

 

[ExSoldier]

The higher gun control areas seem to also have higher levels of corruption, in general. And, cities owned by unions, like Philly and Detroit, seem to have common threads so I do believe that there is a connection. I strongly feel that the RKBA does not stand alone and it's barely scratching the surface (and is a sympton of) larger/deeper issues.

SPOT ON BULLSEYE!

I can draw a direct correlation between creeping gun control laws and creeping efforts at socialism and globalism in this country as well as all sorts of deep political corruption. I also teach AP American Government and Sociology, too.

 

[hso]

ALS,

One of the fundamental rules in writing letters to the editor and politicians is that they should have a single clear focus to keep the message simple for consumption and prevent misinterpretation.

The relationship between firearms restrictions and racial and ethnic prejudice is a very strong point that has the ability to resonate with politicians and minorities as well as majority voters. Your use of it is spot on.

If the issue of corruption and fascism/socialism is also a contributing factor in degradation of RKBA freedoms focus on that in a separate letter.

Good luck.

 

[BADUNAME4]

I was able to fine tune it with your help. Thank you.

 

[Rachen]

The first "gun control" laws were enacted in NYC during the War For Southern Independance because the capitalist ruling elite were afraid of a Confederate insurrection within the city. Apparently, after Sharpsburg, they were terrified.

They saw the Taiping Revolution happening in China at the same time, and evidently, they were terrified at the speed of which the Taipings spread throughout China. Only several months after the insurrection began at Jintian, the rebels captured Nanjing, the seat of Manchu imperial power in the tri-city region of eastern China, and not only they overthrew the Qing government there, they established their Heavenly Empire right in the Ming Imperial Palace, the same place where the Ming Emperors ruled more than 200 years ago!

Apparently, the political bosses of NYC were terrified that the little war going on in Virginia is going to turn into a revolution of Taiping proportions.

They feared that the Confederate States had an underground network of agents in the city itself, and when time came, they would urge the impoverished working class, and slum dwelling population to revolt against the capitalist yoke.
Therefore, gun control seemed the only possible way to limit arms availability if the imaginary "revolt" ever took place.

The Taiping Army led by Prince Li Xiucheng were able to reach Suzhou and Shanghai so quickly in 1861 because both cities were controlled by the Triads, an anti-Qing and anti-foreign organization bent on removing the British colonials, and their hated opium trade from eastern China. Apparently, the Triads also helped unite the Taipings with the Nian rebels in the Huabei region, who were also revolting against the Qing regime at the same time.

 

[IllHunter]

It needn't be a union.

The higher gun control areas seem to also have higher levels of corruption, in general. And, cities owned by unions, like Philly and Detroit, seem to have common threads so I do believe that there is a connection. I strongly feel that the RKBA does not stand alone and it's barely scratching the surface (and is a sympton of) larger/deeper issues.

In politically entrenched cities, like Chicago, the power base is different but the intentions are the same. Unions rank up there with bankers and insurance companies but the top of the socialist heap is the Daley family/machine which has it's tentacles in Cook county, Springfield and if Obama wins, Washington. Don't ever forget that Hillary is a native of Cook County and is supported by the Daley machine. Brother Daley was p/o the Clinton Admin. Now they sit waiting to see which of their puppets gets the nod. Unions probably aren't second tier players here, imo. Guess why the two largest insurers in the U.S. are headquartered here. Pliable government. Pay attention to the Rezko case and see a small, nay tiny, slice of the corruption that exists. Obama suggests "Change", how about change in local government? This is the Mayors ..nth term.

Oh and for the edification of those paying attention...

"Stephen Halbrook, one of our leading contemporary Second Ammendment scholars, express it this way: "The two categorical imperatives of the Second Ammendment - that a militia of the body of the people is necessary to guarantee a free state and that all of the people all of the time (not just when called for organized militia duty) have a right to keep arms - derived from the classical philosophical texts concerning the experiences of ancient Greece and Rome and seventeenth-century England. Aristotle, Cicero, Machiavelli, and the English Whigs provided an armed populace with the philosophical vindication to counter oppression, which found expression in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. In this sense, the people's right to have their own arms was based on the philosophical and political writings of the greatest intellectuals of the past two thousand years."2
Although it is correctly understood that the cradle of philosophical thought regarding the right of a free people to bear arms was the classical Mediteranean civilizations of Greece and Rome, a very early and rare expression was unearthed in ancient China:
{Your subject has heard that when the ancients made the five kinds of weapons, it was not for the purpose of killing each other, but to prevent tyranny and to punish evil. When people lived in peace, these weapons were to be prepared against emergencies and to kill fierce animals. If there were military affairs, then the weapons were used to set up defenses and form battle arrays.}3

2.Stephen P. Halbrook, That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right 8 (1984)
3.Emperor Han responding to a petition from the Imperial Chancellor Kung-Sun Hung to take arms from the people.124 BC from American Rifleman 14 January 1959)

Excerpt from "The Second Ammendment Primer" Les Adams 1996