Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Dark Secret of Jim Crow and the Racist Roots of Gun Control
David Koppel ^ | March 2011 | David Koppel

Posted on 12/18/2012 8:19:47 AM PST by Fred

America's 1st Freedom, March 2011. More articles by Kopel on civil rights and gun control are available here.

Jim Crow is alive and well.

School children today are taught that “Jim Crow” was the name for a legal system of racial oppression, which began after Reconstruction, particularly in the South, and reached its nadir in the early 20th century. Children are also taught that Jim Crow was banished by legal reforms such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education.

Yet in one important part of American life, Jim Crow continues to thrive—the legal foundation of restrictive and oppressive gun control that was built by Jim Crow. The Jim Crow cases continue to hobble the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Shockingly, the Jim Crow laws and legacy are lauded by some persons who consider themselves liberal and tolerant. In the 2010 Supreme Court case McDonald v. Chicago, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a dissent that asserted that District of Columbia v. Heller should be overturned, and that state and local governments should be allowed to ban guns. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined the dissent. That dissent included a litany of restrictive American gun control statutes and court cases, many of them the products of Jim Crow.

Previous issues of America’s 1st Freedom have told the story of how the defeated Confederate states enacted the Black Codes, which explicitly restricted gun possession and carrying by the freedmen. Sometimes these laws facilitated the activities of the terrorist organization Ku Klux Klan, America’s first gun control organization. The top item on the Klan’s agenda was confiscating arms from the freedmen, the better to terrorize them afterward.

Outraged, the Reconstruction Congress responded with the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1870—every one of them aimed at racial subordination in general and racist gun control laws in particular.

President Ulysses S. Grant (1869-77), who would later serve as president of the National Rifle Association, vigorously prosecuted Klansmen, and even declared martial law when necessary to suppress KKK violence.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: banglist; civilrightsact; guncontrol; guns; jimcrow; kukluxklan; racism; secondamendment; slavery
merica's 1st Freedom, March 2011. More articles by Kopel on civil rights and gun control are available here.

Jim Crow is alive and well.

School children today are taught that “Jim Crow” was the name for a legal system of racial oppression, which began after Reconstruction, particularly in the South, and reached its nadir in the early 20th century. Children are also taught that Jim Crow was banished by legal reforms such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education.

Yet in one important part of American life, Jim Crow continues to thrive—the legal foundation of restrictive and oppressive gun control that was built by Jim Crow. The Jim Crow cases continue to hobble the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Shockingly, the Jim Crow laws and legacy are lauded by some persons who consider themselves liberal and tolerant. In the 2010 Supreme Court case McDonald v. Chicago, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a dissent that asserted that District of Columbia v. Heller should be overturned, and that state and local governments should be allowed to ban guns. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined the dissent. That dissent included a litany of restrictive American gun control statutes and court cases, many of them the products of Jim Crow.

Previous issues of America’s 1st Freedom have told the story of how the defeated Confederate states enacted the Black Codes, which explicitly restricted gun possession and carrying by the freedmen. Sometimes these laws facilitated the activities of the terrorist organization Ku Klux Klan, America’s first gun control organization. The top item on the Klan’s agenda was confiscating arms from the freedmen, the better to terrorize them afterward.

Outraged, the Reconstruction Congress responded with the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1870—every one of them aimed at racial subordination in general and racist gun control laws in particular.

President Ulysses S. Grant (1869-77), who would later serve as president of the National Rifle Association, vigorously prosecuted Klansmen, and even declared martial law when necessary to suppress KKK violence.

1 posted on 12/18/2012 8:19:54 AM PST by Fred
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Fred
JPFO puts out good info on this, and they offer some publications about said topics.

One of the free articles is :

The Racist Roots of Gun Control

2 posted on 12/18/2012 8:23:38 AM PST by Theoria (Romney is a Pyrrhic victory.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fred
“defeated Confederate states enacted the Black Codes, which explicitly restricted gun possession and carrying by the freedmen. Sometimes these laws facilitated the activities of the terrorist organization Ku Klux Klan”

What was the political party of those who enacted the above laws Boys and Girls?

THE DEMOCRATS, that's right the Democrats...still trying to take away you Constitutional Rights 148 years later....

3 posted on 12/18/2012 8:28:17 AM PST by Rumplemeyer (The GOP should stand its ground - and fix Bayonets)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fred

Another thing they miss.

One of the first gun control laws, the “Sullivan Act” of New York, was passed to protect Irish Gangsters from other immigrants who had developed the alarming habit of shooting back at the hoodlums.


4 posted on 12/18/2012 8:34:04 AM PST by Little Ray (Get back to work. Your urban masters need their EBTs refilled.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fred
In 1925 Ossian Sweet was another uppity black doctor who moved into a "white" Detroit neighborhood used guns to defend his home against an angry mob and killed two in the process. Sweet was charged with murder and acquitted.

As a consequence of this incident, the Ku Klux Klan — which operated much more openly in those days — lobbied for and obtained the first round of restrictive gun legislation in Michigan. The Public Acts of 1927 included the requirement that citizens obtain government-issued “purchase permits” following mandatory “safety inspections.” Even then, the opportunity to legally carry the weapon would be granted only at the whim of (unaccountable) county “gun boards.”

History Gives Verdict on self-defense
5 posted on 12/18/2012 8:51:57 AM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fred

I don’t know if this means anything because it’s just one personal ancedotal story.

Yesterday a custodian, who happens to be black, entered my office and heard me listening to Rush Limbaugh. Rush was discussing the CT shooting story.

The custodian asked me what I thought about what happened in Conneticutt and what I thought the solution should be.

I told him that the 2nd Amendment is about being able to defend oneself and that using this tragic event’s emotional tramua to make law is not only unwise, but also outrageous and unConstitutional. I told him that I thought the answer was to allow concealed carry by school personnel or at least assign concealed armed personnel at every school. I told him I thought the “concealed” part is critical because if an armed whacko sees a uniformed individual with the weapon, that’s the first one that will be shot.

If the shooter doesn’t know who the armed individuals are (and I do believe there needs to be more than one armed staff), I thought the deterrance factor would be greater.

He surprised me by his enthusiastic response in agreement with me. I don’t know if he knows that Obama is a big time gun-grabber or not, but this whole disarming thing may not sit well with many Americans regardless of race. Now, whether or not that’s enough to build strong opposition to the Obamanation remains to be seen.

Anyway, I thought this story might be relevant to the Jim Crow issue - that would also be a very good thing to mention to black Americans who definitely have at least heard of “Jim Crow” laws.

Does anywone know how support for the Second Amendment falls racially? It seems like those who least support it are white liberals - particualarly white, liberal women (and, of course, all Communists and Socialists).


6 posted on 12/18/2012 9:05:56 AM PST by rusty schucklefurd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Did Margaret Sanger support gun control?


7 posted on 12/18/2012 9:17:58 AM PST by mbarker12474 (If thine enemy offend thee, give his childe a drum.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson