“Visibly Armed, They Patrolled the Streets to Protect the Public from ICE. Now Their Gun Licenses are Being Revoked,” The Trace reported May 20. “Philadelphia says it pulled the licenses of Black Lions because of their “character and reputation.” The group argues it’s retaliation for policing the police.”
“The Trace?”, gun owners active in protecting the right to keep and bear arms might well ask. The group funded by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg that poses as a legitimate journalism outlet while spreading anti-gun propaganda designed to abet citizen disarmament edicts?
Why would we believe anything they say?
Noting the number of times this correspondent has called them out on just those charges, it’s a legitimate question, so it pays to corroborate the information from other sources. It’s also curious that in this case, the focus of The Trace is not to cheer this on as a “commonsense gun safety law,” and that’s especially contradictory considering the sentiments of its benefactor when it comes to armed minorities.
Noting the Black Lions “(formerly the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party) identify with revolutionary socialist and Black nationalist traditions, which are heavily rooted in Marxist principles,” it’s also fair to ask why the hell Second Amendment advocates should give a damn if their licenses are revoked. After all, one of the purposes of the Militia as envisioned by the Founders was “to suppress Insurrections,” and it certainly looks like they have the potential and the inclination to threaten Constitutional rule of law, especially if political tensions being egged on by racist Democrat demagogues erupt into widespread collectivist violence.
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It’s because the Constitutional rule of law says the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, and that efforts to disarm citizens can only be legitimate if it has been proven – with full due process – that they cannot be trusted with a gun (meaning they shouldn’t be trusted with unfettered access to the rest of us).
The whole concept of prior restraint licensing and the reason for revocation given, “character and reputation,” are tyrannical affronts to everything the Republic is supposed to stand for, and a government powerful enough to enforce such diktats is much more of a fearsome threat than the one it’s “protecting” from. Just don’t forget that what the government can do to the Black Lions, it will do to whomever it can. (It’s ironic that the communist system they would impose on all ultimately relies on a disarmed populace. It never seems to evolve beyond Marx’s dictatorship of the proletariat and into the stateless Nirvana he promised.)
“We condemn any program that involves enforcing unconstitutional ‘laws’, even if such ‘laws’ are enforced only against violent criminals,” the Project Exile Condemnation Coalition declared in 2001. “Unconstitutional ‘laws’ are illegal, harmful to public safety, tyrannical, and are inevitably enforced against ordinary, non-criminal citizens.”
If the Black Lions are threatening and victimizing people and obstructing immigration law enforcement, go after the ones doing it with the laws against it. Otherwise, leave them alone to run food assistance programs, give out clothes to the needy, and, yes, patrol the streets while armed.
The Eagle could stand to learn from that.
Federal Lawsuit Challenges Illinois FOID Card Gun Licensing Law
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
I read the article: The Trace reported May 20. This is a valid use of our 2nd Amendment right. There is the state’s Uniform Firearms Act, which says that a license can be revoked if “an individual whose character and reputation are such that the individual would be likely to act in a ‘manner dangerous to public safety.” From reading the article in The Trace, I see no such issue of public safety. If it comes down to defending one’s self and endangering the public in the process, since the police can do that, you should be able to also.… Read more »
Disarming these guys is the same “logic” that Reagan was said to have used in increasing restrictions on open carry in Cali, around the late 60’s or early 70’s. People didn’t want “scary” Black Panthers walking around openly armed. Personally, I would much rather live in a society where EVERYbody could legally carry (open or concealed) than one where only the police can.
Rights denied for one are rights denied for all.