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Gun Control – A Relic of Racism

Hawaii Concealed Carry

Hawaii -–(Ammoland.com)- Racism is a word that is, unfortunately, tossed around all too freely in modern-day America.

While it has become a catch-all villain in politics, responsible for all manner of Very Bad Things, there was a time when racism was a cherished institution in these United States. And although our nation has made great strides in confronting and vanquishing the evil of racism, some trappings remain, notably in the form of gun control.

The origin of gun control laws in America had little, if anything, to do with controlling crime; the laws were intended to prevent slaves and freed blacks from defending themselves or rebelling against the state and local governments which persecuted them relentlessly.

Throughout the history of our nation, gun control laws have been aimed primarily at blacks, and only in the last few decades has the focus of gun control shifted from targeting minorities to targeting all Americans.

NYC Slave Execution

Today, the laws on the books in Hawaii bear few substantive differences between the laws of the 1840’s South, other than the omission of race. These are the laws championed by the Brady Campaign and our politicians claim they are necessary to preserve order in our state.

Hogwash!

While they are no longer motivated by race, the laws we have now are just as discriminatory as they were 175 years ago. Today, our gun control laws discriminate against the disabled, the elderly, women, and anyone else who isn’t capable of stopping a violent crime with their fists. Of course, stopping a violent crime with nothing but bare hands and feet is feasible only with unarmed assailants; even BJ Penn would be hard-pressed to prevail, unarmed, against a sociopath with a gun.

Don’t believe that Hawaii’s gun laws have their roots in racism?

Let’s compare:

“That if any free negro, mulatto, or free person of color, shall wear or carry about his or her person, or keep in his or her house, any shot gun, musket, rifle, pistol, sword, dagger or bowie-knife, unless he or she shall have obtained a license therefor from the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of his or her county, within one year preceding the wearing, keeping or carrying therefor, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be indicted therefor.” –North Carolina statute, 1840, as quoted in Clayton Cramer’s paper The Racist Roots of Gun Control.

“Any person, not authorized by law, who carries concealed upon the person’s self or within any vehicle used or occupied by the person or who is found armed with any dirk, dagger, blackjack, slug shot, billy, metal knuckles, pistol, or other deadly or dangerous weapon shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and may be immediately arrested without warrant by any sheriff, police officer, or other officer or person.” — Hawaii Revised Statutes, § 134-51

We’ve come a long way, haven’t we? In no other area, save gun control, would otherwise sane people honestly try to claim that a law, previously used to subjugate an entire race, can be applied to the whole population for positive effect. It’s time to acknowledge the rights of law-abiding citizens, stand up for those rights, and reform Hawaii’s concealed carry laws.

For those interested in reading more on this topic, I highly recommend Clayton E. Cramer’s extensive paper on the subject, The Racist Roots of Gun Control.

About Hawaii Concealed Carry:
Hawaii Concealed Carry is a single-issue group formed with the mission to promote the restoration of Second Amendment rights contained within the constitution, the right of the people to keep and bear arms. We are a non-partisan group; our only care being, whether people support the right of self-defense and defense of others. Our philosophy is that through responsible use, education, communication, and understanding we can promote a safer environment for Hawaii residents, while reducing crime, and supporting our fundamental constitutional rights. Visit: www.hawaiiccw.com

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Memberless VPC Decries Meeting of 70,000 of NRA’s Members in Charlotte

Violence Policy Center - Haters of Freedom

National Rifle Association

Washington, DC --(AmmoLand.com)- For quite a long time now, the three or four anti-gun radicals that make up the Violence Policy Center haven’t had much to show the Joyce Foundation for the hundreds of thousands of dollars the leftwing foundation wastefully pumps into the anti-gun group each year.

As regular readers of AmmoLand well know, Second Amendment opponents’ defeats have outnumbered their temporary successes by a wide margin lately.

So, to earn their keep, this week the VPC - so small that it could hold its annual meeting in a closet - issued a predictable rant about NRA’s 2010 Annual Meeting in Charlotte, N.C., at which 70,000 of NRA’s four million members will assemble with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the ever-popular Chuck Norris, Tom Selleck, and Ted Nugent, and others to celebrate our successes and galvanize our efforts to advance Second Amendment rights in Congress, in state legislatures, in the courts, and in the voting booth.

The specifics of VPC’s rant are not worth mentioning. But we can’t resist noting that the anti-gunners brag that one of them once wrote a book that bad-mouthed the NRA. Doing so gives us the opportunity to note another book, Profiles in Courage, by NRA Life Member President John F. Kennedy. In it, JFK recalled that Missouri’s 19th century U.S. Sen. Thomas Hart Benton was once told by a detractor that he would one day write a book in which Benton would be featured prominently. Benton, JFK’s account recalls, replied that one day he too would write a book, but that his detractor would not be featured in it at all. As VPC’s desperate gripe about our Annual Meeting shows, at the current rate the anti-gun group is destined to have a similar fate.

About:
Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military. Visit: www.nra.org

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