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Do Black People Have Equal Gun Rights?
The New York Times ^ | 25 Oct 2014 | Charles C. W. Cooke

Posted on 10/26/2014 2:34:21 PM PDT by Theoria

Conventional wisdom holds that firearms are the preserve of conservative white men. You would never know this at my local shooting range, which happens to be in a majority African-American area, and has a clientele that reflects that fact. There, as a white man, I’m often in the minority; just one more guy who likes to fire weapons — another person to chat to and share stories with. It is, I’d venture, how things should be.

By rights, the Second Amendment should serve as a totem of African-Americans’ full citizenship and enfranchisement. For centuries, firearms have been indispensable to black liberation: as crucial a defense against tyranny for Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. as for Sam Adams and George Washington. Today, however, many black Americans have a decidedly mixed relationship with the right to bear arms.

In August, as the outrage over the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., dominated the news, an African-American group calling itself the Huey P. Newton Gun Club took to the streets of Dallas, rifles in hand, to protest. Local businesses were supportive, and the city’s police chief confirmed in a statement that his department “supports the constitutional rights of all.” On Twitter, the hashtag #blackopencarry prompted a warm response from conservatives.

And yet, that same month, a 22-year-old black man named John Crawford III was shot dead by the police in an Ohio Walmart after a white customer claimed excitedly that a man was pointing a gun at his fellow patrons. Later, the store’s security footage revealed that Mr. Crawford had been holding a BB gun that he had picked up in the sporting goods department, and that the caller’s testimony had been wrong. Ohio is an open carry state. That didn’t make much difference for Mr. Crawford.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: banglist; constitution; gunrights; nra; secondamendment
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To: Theoria

Black people have the same rights as White people, or anyone else for that matter.

They just don’t want to claim them (i.e., accept responsibility) because that would mean an end to the government-subsidized life.


21 posted on 10/26/2014 3:11:32 PM PDT by Arm_Bears (Rope. Tree. Politician. Some assembly required.)
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To: Arm_Bears
There are plenty of whites who live off of subsidies. The entire welfare state comprises all races and benefits.
22 posted on 10/26/2014 3:18:06 PM PDT by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
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To: Theoria

It was Southern Democrats that made Americans form the N.R.A.

The Second Amendment is a non-racial amendment. It should doubly go for those who have served and earned veteran status in our military, since they have had more extensive firearms training, than any cop.


23 posted on 10/26/2014 3:25:15 PM PDT by Terry L Smith
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To: Theoria

Funny—I’ve never seen DIMS telling a White crowd that the Republicans were going to take away their welfare.


24 posted on 10/26/2014 3:33:43 PM PDT by Arm_Bears (Rope. Tree. Politician. Some assembly required.)
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To: dfwgator

Condoleezza Rice (from Wikipedia):

Rice has said in interviews that if gun registration had been mandatory, her father’s weapons would have been confiscated, leaving them defenseless against Ku Klux Klan nightriders.


25 posted on 10/26/2014 3:37:27 PM PDT by jttpwalsh
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To: Poison Pill

Maybe because she carried a pistol when smuggling slaves out. A female slave on her own carrying a rifle would have freaked out any whites she ran across. Southerners were terrified of a slave uprising, therefore very unenthused about armed slaves.

The rifle iconography is from when she fought in the Civil War, which seems not to be part of the popular memory anymore.


26 posted on 10/26/2014 3:40:12 PM PDT by Amity
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To: Arm_Bears
Really? I hear it all the time on left wing radio. 'The evil tea party supporters are going to end privatice social security and try to get rid of Medicare and Medicaid.'

Unfortuantely, we don't have people who actually want to cut such subsidies.

27 posted on 10/26/2014 3:44:00 PM PDT by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
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To: Arm_Bears

You hit the nail on the head!


28 posted on 10/26/2014 3:45:04 PM PDT by Johnny_cash (10 out of 10 idiots voted for 0Bama!)
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To: Theoria

They do when thier not robbing raping and murdering


29 posted on 10/26/2014 3:59:37 PM PDT by ronnie raygun
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To: Theoria

For the most part Black people have surrendered their rights to the DNC for thirty pieces of silver!!!


30 posted on 10/26/2014 4:32:25 PM PDT by ontap
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To: Arm_Bears

Exactly!!!


31 posted on 10/26/2014 4:33:27 PM PDT by ontap
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To: Theoria

That is what republicans tell every one about Obamacare....because it’s a true statement!!


32 posted on 10/26/2014 4:35:36 PM PDT by ontap
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To: Amity

33 posted on 10/26/2014 4:53:18 PM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto!)
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To: Theoria
Hey,looks like we're making progress.The NY Times has now come out to demand that black people be allowed to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights.
34 posted on 10/26/2014 5:46:39 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Islamophobia;The Irrational Fear Of Being Beheaded)
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To: ontap
For the most part Black people have surrendered their rights to the DNC for thirty pieces of silver!!!

Estimates I've heard suggest that it's closer to twenty trillion dollars.

35 posted on 10/26/2014 5:48:11 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Islamophobia;The Irrational Fear Of Being Beheaded)
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To: BenLurkin

That’s the NYT’s for you...

Dumber than a bag of hammers, yet some people believe everything they read on that birdcage liner...

The purpose of the story is clear...And it is getting results...


36 posted on 10/26/2014 5:50:37 PM PDT by stevie_d_64 (I will settle for a "perfectly good, gently used" kidney...Apply within...)
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To: Theoria

People in major cities are frequently denied their gun rights. But it’s fine with the libs for White hippies in Vermont to have them.


37 posted on 10/26/2014 5:57:16 PM PDT by Impy (Voting democrat out of spite? Then you are America's enemy, like every other rat voter.)
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In CT the new gun regulations are a direct war on low wage individuals. Which many are non-white. So indirectly, yes. That’s the sneaky way of racism.

You MUST travel to ONLY Middleton, CT to spend $116 (and the day off from work) issuing four personal checks to various offices to just apply to buy a long gun certificate.


38 posted on 10/26/2014 6:26:58 PM PDT by USCG SimTech (Honored to serve since '71)
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To: Theoria
While we are at it, throw out permits.

Can't do that. Permits are in the Constitution, right under the clause that says it's alright to murder babies in the womb.

39 posted on 10/26/2014 6:31:08 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Eccl 12 V.13)
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To: Theoria

if they are able to lawfully carry, you betcha.


40 posted on 10/26/2014 7:24:16 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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