Last week I reviewed a book by Professor Carol Anderson on how the 2nd Amendment has been used to discriminate against Blacks and helps maintain systemic racism, her book being a contribution to critical race theory (CRT) which has generated controversy on both sides of the current political debate.
In last week’s review, I paid most of my attention to Professor Anderson’s analysis of how and why the 2nd Amendment was inserted into the Bill of Rights. In today’s column I want to look at how Anderson frames an argument about what the 2nd Amendment means to Black Americans today.
Anderson cites two examples of how racism has been used in the contemporary period to define gun ‘rights’ – California’s Mulford Law which prohibited carrying guns in public and was signed by then-Governor Ronald Reagan in 1967, and the Federal Gun Control Act which created the national regulatory system for guns which was signed by then-President Lyndon Johnson in 1968. Both laws which, according to Anderson’s interpretation of CRT, were designed to protect America from violence committed by Blacks.
The Mulford Law was passed in California after the Black Panthers showed up at the State Capitol, carrying rifles, to protest police brutality and lack of effective policing, particularly in Oakland and Black neighborhoods in L.A. Anderson is absolutely correct in pointing out that much of the political rhetoric and posturing which accompanied Mulford Law was not-so-thinly-veiled messaging about how Whites needed to protect themselves from crime and violence committed by Blacks.
Anderson basically makes the same argument about the political and racial context surrounding the debates and ultimate passage of GCA68, quoting Michael Waldman’s judgement that the law was defining gun ownership as a “white prerogative” because the categories which defined unlawful behavior, lumped under the rubric of ‘dangerous people,’ tended to be behaviors that allegedly occurred much more frequently among Blacks than among Whites.
It was in the aftermath of GCA68, however, that gun regulations began to clearly show a racist slant. I am referring to the spread of concealed-carry permits (CCW) which were issued in only 9 states without any kind of police discretion as late as 1986. As of this year, there are now only 8 states where the cops can deny a CCW application without cause, and every one of those states happens to have large, inner-city Black neighborhoods where it is simply understood that Blacks don’t need to waste time trying to get a CCW license because it won’t be issued, whether they meet the legal qualifications or not.
States like California, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts Rhode Island – have cities with high levels of gun violence but are also cities where the cops don’t want anyone to own a legal gun. Want to protect yourself by carrying a legal gun when you walk down the street? Move to Wichita, KS or Des Moines, IA. Blacks can get licensed for CCW in those cities, no questions asked.
The fact that Anderson could write an entire book to show how the 2nd Amendment has been used to discriminate against Blacks and never seem to be aware of the racial differential in issuance of CCW licenses tells me that her understanding of guns, gun laws and CRT represents nothing more than an ability to go on the internet and do a bibliographical search. Another expert writing about gun violence who wouldn’t know one end of a gun from the other end.
But here’s the real problem with thinking about gun violence within the context of CRT. Would it be better if the laws on gun ownership and gun access were completely color-blind, thus making it easier for Blacks to buy and own guns? Isn’t it bad enough right now that a White guy can walk into a gun shop, buy a Glock 17 with 5 extra hi-cap mags, and walk around town with the gun just because he passed a two-minute background check?
Want to get rid of the systemic racism that defines how we try to control the ownership and use of guns? Why don’t we make everyone equal and simply say that nobody can own guns?
Jun 22, 2021 @ 12:16:51
Given the crime maps in cities, it seems Blacks have a more pressing need for self defense than your average White guy in Wichita. Indeed, NYS’s Sullivan Act was meant to keep “undesirables” from obtaining handguns. Folks like my Eye-talian ancestors. I’ve read about the Mulford Act. I suspect if it were White folks who were milling around the Capitol, there never would have been a Mulford Act.
Jun 22, 2021 @ 12:37:48
“Why don’t we make everyone equal and simply say that nobody can own guns?”
So you want to take away everybody’s gun rights (read: RIGHTS not ‘rights’ and I’ll keep saying it until you get it through your skull) equally then. Typical leftist thinking. Are there any other rights you want to take away while you’re at it?
As a gun guy and a progressive, I say we do the opposite. It’s true that minorities have never had the same gun rights as white people, and that’s absolutely horrible. So let’s make minority gun ownership a key facet in the fight against systemic racism. Guns don’t give a f*ck about skin color and neither should anyone else.
Reagan truly was an awful president. The war on drugs, f-ing up the AIDS epidemic, firing the air traffic controllers, trickle down economics- the list goes on. But the worst thing about Reagan was that he managed to hybridize racism and gun control, two of the worst ills our society faces. He worked to deprive Black people of their gun rights and he gave the antigun left another talking point in their GuNs ArE rAcIsT narrative.
“Isn’t it bad enough right now that a White guy can walk into a gun shop, buy a Glock 17 with 5 extra hi-cap mags, and walk around town with the gun…”
There’s nothing bad about that. The bad thing is that a person of color may not have been able to do the same.
Jun 22, 2021 @ 13:50:10
Another nutter that has little understanding of the words used or the intention of the 2A. Since this is an affirmation of existing rights that belong to everyone the 2A has absolutely nothing to do with marginalising blacks. I cannot think of a single comment made in that respect. What the writer missed compeletly is the government of the day choose with the permission of stupid citizens to enact totally unconstitutional laws. There is a huge difference between falsely trying to blame the 2A for this and the fact the government with citizens permission passed those laws. Gun control has been using that technique and playing it for so many years it is surprising nobody actually sees the huge lie.
Of course if citizens had not been so stupid as to fall in with government to pass those laws. Then again the same tactic applies today and even firearm owners are stupid enough to help gun control and government pass unconstitutional laws. Some are even demanding those unconstitutional laws.
Why are firearm owners not aware of this tactic? Is +90 years not long enough?
Jun 22, 2021 @ 16:57:46
Mike writes:
“Want to get rid of the systemic racism that defines how we try to control the ownership and use of guns? Why don’t we make everyone equal and simply say that nobody can own guns”?
M A K E E V E R Y O N E E Q U A L
The Constitution explicitly states in Article 10 that everyone shall be equal before the law, and that no-one may be discriminated against…
Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law”.
With all this said, want to get rid of the systemic racism, maybe we should take Mr. Bunker’s advice/suggestion concerning gun control, simply give a gun to everyone.
YouTube: “Archie Bunker’s Editorial on Gun Control”