Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Chicago’s handgun ban. Gun rights groups hailed the ruling as a seminal moment in their ongoing fight to roll back restrictive gun-control legislation. As far as the National Rifle Association (NRA) is concerned, McDonald settles the matter once and for all: “This decision makes absolutely clear that the Second Amendment protects the God-given right of self-defense for all law-abiding Americans, period.” Be that as it may, the McDonald decision is really a victory for and about black Americans. At least it should be. America’s gun-control laws owe their genesis to the post-Civil War era, when white southerners moved to disarm freed slaves. The former Confederate states’ successful efforts to restrict gun ownership had disastrous long-term consequences for black Americans’ life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
The
Racist Roots of Gun Control
By Clayton E. Cramer
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.
This paper is intended to provide a brief summary of this unholy alliance of gun control and racism, and to suggest that gun control laws should be regarded as “suspect ideas,”more
The Supreme Court’s majority opinion recognized this historical context. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. framed the McDonald decision in terms of black Americans’ struggle for equality – and survival. He highlighted the court’s Cruikshank ruling after the Colfax Massacre, a genocidal slaughter perpetrated in 1873.
“Dozens of blacks, many unarmed, were slaughtered by a rival band of armed white men,” Justice Alito wrote. “Cruikshank himself allegedly marched unarmed African-American prisoners through the streets and then had them summarily executed. Ninety-seven men were indicted for participating in the massacre, but only nine went to trial.” A Louisiana court dismissed all charges, including depriving the victims of their Second Amendment right to bear arms. More than 100 years later, the Supreme Court has finally restored black Americans’ Second Amendment protections. They did so on behalf of a beleaguered black man living in Chicago – a man who shared his ancestors’ desire to protect himself, his family and his property with a firearm.
History is, of course, repeating itself. Just as Southern states subverted black Americans’ right to vote through intimidation and discriminatory eligibility requirements, Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley has just signed handgun-licensing legislation that violates both the spirit and the letter of the McDonald decision
The Chicago handgun-licensing laws enacted just four days after the Supreme Court ruling include four hours of mandatory training and testing more
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