“Negroes with Guns” is an interesting book that anti gun rights people like Jessie Jackson really should read:
First published in 1962, the book “Negroes with Guns” is the story of a southern black community’s struggle to arm itself in self-defense against the Ku Klux Klan and other racist groups. Frustrated and angered by violence condoned or abetted by the local authorities against African Americans, the town of Monroe, North Carolina, brought the issue of armed self-defense to the forefront of the civil rights movement. These African Americans were able to defend themselves against racist hate groups through gun ownership.
Once again, gun control is racist. The earliest gun control laws were designed to keep guns out of the hands of recently freed slaves, so that they would defenseless. Nowadays, gun control has a disproportionate effect upon minorities, who are more likely to live in cities with draconian gun restriction. The result is suffering by the innocent and unarmed victims, while only those willing to break the law can defend themselves.
I wish that more of my fellow African Americans would read books like “Negroes with Guns”, stop fasely calling the NRA racist, and recognize that gun control is not the answer to inner city crime.
As a minority myself, with many people in my demographic subscibing to left-leaning policies and modes of thought, it's always astounded me how few people (in my demographic) look at the gun issue with a critical lens. They just automatically associate guns and gun enthusiasts with racist white rednecks and gang members of color. "No need for civilized person to have a gun." That quote was actually told to my face by the spouse of one of my family members.
When I mentioned that the very first laws governing the sale and ownership of firearms in this country were specifically aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of blacks and Indians, this same person (same ethnicity as me) basically agreed with those policies, saying that the government was wise to do this so they wouldn't have to constantly battle insurrections and uprisings. I was incredulous, mentioning that if the government wanted to put its thumb on you today, and you had no means to fight back, wouldn't you want a gun too? He basically waved off my argument, saying that we now live in a "nation governed by laws" where "battles are fought in the courtroom" and not on the streets.
Well – there's just no arguing with this guy. He's ensconced in his safe little upper-middle-class existence where he never encounters a genuinely bad person, people who can't be dealt with by reason and threat of lawsuits, and so that of course colors his judgement. I'm not saying I would like this person to get mugged or burglarized just once, to see the true ugliness that exists in the world, but sometimes it does take a real-life first-hand experience to awaken people to the realities of life.