For once, I fully support this idea, because it is a good one.
Most people, especially police, are susceptible to the bad idea that having a gun magically imparts dominance in a situation, and control over other people. It does not.
But if you think it does, your behavior changes to be more aggressive than situations warrant, more inclined to brandish and use your gun, even when wildly inappropriate.
And this is not just limited to guns. It is called the “hammer rule”, in that, if you have been given a new hammer, suddenly all problems look like nails.
In this situation, were black people to “just” buy guns and carry them, but never train with them, they would be just as ignorant as a similarly untrained gang banger—unable to hit the broad side of a bar because he fires his gun sideways.
But, if the same black person trains with a gun at a gun club, with people who know what they are doing, they can actually get a sense of what a gun can and cannot do, especially the dominance and control thing.
Yet all of this is not really about them, but about the police.
In Arizona, the police always assume that everybody is armed. Even ordinary people meeting a stranger are aware that they *might* be armed. The result is not gun play, but politeness.
If a policeman approaches a person of *any* color in Arizona, they do *not* assume they are dominant in the situation or that they control the other person than perhaps by the dint of their uniform they can command their attention. So politeness rules the day.
However, it also behooves people to not make sudden or threatening movements, because if the cop even suspects you are trying to draw a gun he will kill you dead and fast.
So what does this mean to black people? Unlike past calls for them to arm themselves, this is a call to intelligently arm themselves. Such a call will only appeal to those who are already intelligent, likely middle class and wealthy.
Stupid black people will still do stupid things and get shot.
Well said and relevant comments - especially about magical thinking. That said, “Stupid people will still do stupid things and get shot irrespective of their genetics.”
Not sure what you were reading.
When he warns cops they cannot "do as you please," where's the same message to his constituency? When the cops stop you, you can't run or fight. Being a citizen carries responsibilities as well as rights. Funny you never hear any talk about that from the NAACP.