The Ku Klux Klan, Ronald Reagan, and, for most of its history, the NRA all worked to control guns

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/the-secret-history-of-guns/8608/

The Secret History of Guns

The Ku Klux Klan, Ronald Reagan, and, for most of its history, the NRA all worked to control guns. The Founding Fathers? They required gun ownership—and regulated it. And no group has more fiercely advocated the right to bear loaded weapons in public than the Black Panthers—the true pioneers of the modern pro-gun movement. In the battle over gun rights in America, both sides have distorted history and the law, and there’s no resolution in sight.

September 2011 ATLANTIC MAGAZINE

By Adam Winkler

The eighth-grade students gathering on the west lawn of the state capitol in Sacramento were planning to lunch on fried chicken with California’s new governor, Ronald Reagan, and then tour the granite building constructed a century earlier to resemble the nation’s Capitol. But the festivities were interrupted by the arrival of 30 young black men and women carrying .357 Magnums, 12-gauge shotguns, and .45-caliber pistols.

The 24 men and six women climbed the capitol steps, and one man, Bobby Seale, began to read from a prepared statement. “The American people in general and the black people in particular,” he announced, must take careful note of the racist California legislature aimed at keeping the black people disarmed and powerless Black people have begged, prayed, petitioned, demonstrated, and everything else to get the racist power structure of America to right the wrongs which have historically been perpetuated against black people The time has come for black people to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late. snip

Republicans in California eagerly supported increased gun control. Governor Reagan told reporters that afternoon that he saw “no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons.” He called guns a “ridiculous way to solve problems that have to be solved among people of good will.” In a later press conference, Reagan said he didn’t “know of any sportsman who leaves his home with a gun to go out into the field to hunt or for target shooting who carries that gun loaded.” The Mulford Act, he said, “would work no hardship on the honest citizen.”

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SteveM]

7. Of course times change...

"Williams also filed for a charter from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and formed the Black Guard, an armed group committed to the protection of Monroe’s black population. Members received weapons and physical training from Williams to prepare them to keep the peace and come to the aid of black citizens, whose calls to law enforcement often went unanswered."

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/negroeswithguns/rob.html

;-)

[MineralMan]

2. So many inconvenient truths.

So little time.

Only the right people should be armed. It's the unspoken law. :rofl:

[TheWraith]

59. Indeed. Few people realize how much the GOP is pro-gun-control.

Just so long as it's controlling access for the "wrong" people. Generally meaning people with brown skin, or the poor, or just the average people who don't have political connections.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

67. Bloomie in NYC is a classic GOP anti gun rights bigot

[Generic Other]

3. I met Bobby Seale

He tells amazing stories of his Panther days with Huey Newton and the brothers.

I love this link! Thanks!

[LAGC]

4. Yep, the modern gun control movement was spear-headed by conservatives.

Not just the California Mulford Act, but the 1968 Federal Gun Control Act was rooted in racist motives as well.

That was a pretty fair and balanced article, thanks for posting! :hi:

[NNN0LHI]

17. It was pretty fair and balanced

I highly recommend reading the entire article. All three pages. Its worth it. It does go into the 1968 Federal Gun Control Act.

I learned a lot from it.

Well written too.

Glad you enjoyed it.

:hi:

Don

[iverglas]

21. stinking right-wing propaganda

I don't know why you propagate it here; perhaps you believe it and are an innocent dupe. Yeah, that.

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD – SENATE
July 9, 1970
Page 23393

SENATOR TYDINGS AND GUN CONTROL

Mr. MUSKIE: Mr. President, in the June 27 issue of the New Republic, Alex Campbell has written a perceptive article about the political situation in which the Senator from Maryland (Mr. TYDINGS) presently finds himself being the object of attack from both the left and right. I think this short piece clearly demonstrates what happens to a public figure when he takes on the tough issues without ducking. I ask unanimous consent that the article be printed in the RECORD. ...

TYDINGS OF NO JOY

And, because Tydings is also pushing for saner gun laws, lavish displays of posters and bumper stickers paid for by you-know-who tell Maryland voters, "If Tydings wins, you lose."

What?

Their guns; therefore, they seem to fear, their manhood. Both fears are groundless; nevertheless Tydings, a self-confessed liberal, is now being depicted as a castrator as well. Tydings is Maryland's senior senator and faces in September a primary fight with George P. Mahoney, a Democrat who is an eight-times loser and is so far from being a liberal that in 1966 Spiro T. Agnew won the governorship from him largely by appearing to be by contrast a moderate.

Mahoney is counting confidently on gun lobby backing. Should Mahoney lose a ninth time, the gun lobby doubtless will back Republican J. Glenn Beall Jr. against Tydings in November.

Unregistered guns killed two of Tydings’ close friends, John and Robert F. Kennedy. The 1968 Gun Control Act is a flop; only three states require gun licenses and in 35 states, lunatics may legally own guns. Tydings wants guns registered and licensed. His assurances to hunters that this will not interfere with sport and to collectors of antique guns that these won't count, have failed to abate the trumped-up hysteria against Tydings' modest proposals; so have Tydings' terrible statistics – 99,000 armed robberies annually, more than doubled since 1964, and 9,000, Americans shot to death each year.

... The senator has written a book, Born to Starve, to expose his views on population control. He says that 5.4 million American women who are poor don't want large families and do want family planning assistance, but fewer than 800,000 get it. The Nixon Administration has adopted elimination of unwanted births as a national goal, but Tydings is urging larger financial provision, $984,000 over five years. His less rational accusers blow up over his family planning stand. Some blacks say he's a rich white who aims to sterilize the black poor; others profess shock at his proposal to leave abortion "to individual conscience." If he politically survives the attacks generated by what seems to be everyone else's castration syndrome, Tydings may look good in 1972, when he will be only 44. Many of his liberal ideas match with those of Senator McGovern – and of Senator Ted Kennedy. Tydings would also fit a Muskie ticket, or a Hughes ticket. But sometimes, reading his hate mail, Tydings becomes a bit glum. The storm that is being worked up against him in his state is contrived by the gun lobby in part because he is a liberal, and people who fear and hate liberal views readily believe that Tydings is plotting to disarm them so as to leave them helpless prey of vaguely glimpsed powers of evil. But, meanwhile, Tydings' efforts to protect poor and black people from the criminals who prey on them are rudely rebuffed.

When liberals were liberals, eh?

And when George P. Mahoney made Your home is your castle, defend it! the rallying cry of every racist opposing housing integration and gun control.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, in the case of those who don't actually really give a shit about victims, other than to exploit in the service of their own agenda.

If someone here seriously thinks that the Black Panthers would get into bed with you today ... :eyes:

[LAGC]

22. Actually, quite a few of the Democrats in the 90th Congress (1967-1969) were southern Dixiecrats.

Socially conservative to the core.

Of course, it never occurred to any of them to take advantage of the assassinations of RFK, Malcomb X, and MLK, Jr. to try to push through an authoritarian agenda... :eyes:

[friendly_iconoclast]

35. How reactionary of you to mention that little bit of inconvenient history n/t

[iverglas]

51. actually, my post was about LIBERALS in Congress

who actually stood up for notions like justice and equality.

Against racist gun militants.

[MineralMan]

5. Just for giggles, I did some searches on Google Images.

Things like "gun club meeting," "NRA meeting," "Shooting range," "gun show" and similar searches that would show pictures of people attending such meetings and places. It was very interesting. I saw very, very few faces that were other than white. Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, people of Middle Eastern origins were simply not in those photos. If you scrolled down enough pages you'd find a couple, but you really had to look.

And there it is. The "right" people have the "right" to bear arms. If you aren't the "right" people...not so much.

[SteveM]

9. Minorities in this country can freely obtain weapons now...

that the 1964 Civil Rights Act has become law, killing off many Jim Crow laws (the ol' bird done flew north). It is ironic that the best amicus curiae brief submitted in the Heller case, one in which the racist history of gun-control was summarized nicely, was submitted by:

http://www.gacarry.org/cms/in-the-courtroom/

Go to "In the Courtroom."

[ProgressiveProfessor]

52. That was a kick ass brief

[SteveM]

79. You imagine all those Crackers, sitting around eating Crow?

[gejohnston]

13. I noticed that too

we do need more diversity in the shooting sports.

[spin]

18. I have taken several Black and Hispanic friends to a range to teach them how to shoot ...

Several of my Black friends were amazed at how well they were treated by other shooters and how friendly the people were. They had obviously heard the false rumor that NRA members are racist.

I shot with one of my Black co-workers numerous times at the old Tampa Police Pistol Range. Years later when he decided that he wanted to get a carry permit, he asked me to recommend a good instructor. I referred him to an individual who was a retired police chief from Cincinnati Ohio. The instructor was so impressed with my friend that he tried to get him into competitive shooting and offered to give him free lessons.

My Hispanic friends were not surprised as it's not unusual for Cubans to shoot at pistol ranges in Tampa. One of the range masters at the old Tampa Police Pistol Range spoke fluent Spanish as his parents had been immigrants from Cuba.

I did offer to take a co-worker who had been born in China to the range numerous times, but while he had some interest in my shooting hobby and would often ask questions about it, he was far more interested in fishing.

I have often helped shooters on the line who were newbies and were Black or Hispanic as did the other regular shooters. If a new shooter or even an experienced shooter showed just a little interest in improving their shooting ability with a handgun, we were more than happy to offer them advice and guidance.

My experience has taught me that people who enjoy shooting on a regular basis are among the friendliest people you can meet if you are interested in a sport. We will bend over backward to introduce new people to our hobby.

But feel free to look at pictures and draw the wrong conclusions. Your stereotyping will help reinforce the false belief that racial minorities have that they will be unwelcome at a shooting range, which is totally false in my experience.

You also probably did not see many women in the pictures when you researched shooting.

If any women are reading this post, I should point out that you will have far better luck finding a good man at a shooting range than you will in a bar and you will find a surprising enjoyable hobby. All the woman that I have ever taken to the range when they asked me to teach them how to shoot have really enjoyed the experience once they got over the initial fear of guns.

However I should warn any woman that has a boyfriend who offers to teach her shooting to beware of boyfriends who are assholes. If your boyfriend gives you a handgun loaded with magnum ammunition for your first experience, immediately dump him and look for someone who is not a total idiot.

When I introduce a woman to shooting, I start her with a fairly large and heavy firearm that uses a mild caliber such as a .22 or .38 special. The recoil of such weapons is manageable. Once she has mastered and feels confident with those weapons (and only if she wants), I introduce her to handguns that fire much more powerful rounds. Women are far better students than men and even my daughter who is 5' 2" and weighs less than 100 pounds can shoot a .357 magnum or a .44 magnum without problem. Many woman enjoy the thrill of shooting a powerful handgun.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

65. As an instructor I get funny looks sometimes for not looking the southern redneck part

I am also in a strong position as a visible minority (Canadian for someone who does not look Caucasian) to encourage other minorities that shooting is "OK".

I teach weekend courses mostly to GLBTs and women. Being non-white seems to help break the stereotypes we all have.

[Hoyt]

6. Don't allow ANY citizen to carry in public, especially KKK, TBaggers and sympathizers who used guns

to intimidate.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. The good news is this repressive attitude and approach is losing ground rapidly

Freedom is on the march!

[kelly1mm]

11. + 1. I support ALL civil rights. Other 'liberals' .... not so much. nt

[rrneck]

10. If you feel so intimidated

how would you intimidate them into not carrying?

[Hoyt]

14. Make it illegal and kick their rear if they still try to use their guns to intimidate and hate.

We should have not tolerance for bigots, racists and those who intimidate with guns.

[rrneck]

16. Ah

Hire it done. How bourgeoisie.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

30. Your support of thought crimes is noted...as is your presumption to know the thoughts of others

[Tuesday Afternoon]

78. kick their rear

:rofl: *snort* :spray:

[SteveM]

80. Then am I correct in assuming you supported repealing Jim Crow gun laws?

[PavePusher]

20. You seem to have a deep common cause with those groups.

Authoritarianism.

Irony, it is delicious, no?

[Hoyt]

27. "Authoritarianism?" From some guy who routinely carries a gun or two in public. LMAO.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

31. You make unsubstantied connection

Carrying a weapon for self defense is not prima facie authoritarianism.

Demanding that others conform to what you think is correct behavior could be considered authoritarianism

[Hoyt]

42. Except -- as we know -- lots of gunners don't carry just for self-defense.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

54. I know lots of who have firearms. I have taught lots of people to shoot

You admittedly don't know any civilian who carries a firearm. How would you have the least bit of insight into why people carry firearms let alone "lots of gunners".

So...why do you think "lots of gunners" carry, and why should we believe what you think given your total lack of experience and exposure.

Why do you think I carry?

[PavePusher]

60. Ah, assumption... the twin sister to authoritarianism. n/t

[spin]

25. That's absolutely right. Gun free zones WORK ...

to the advantage of those who suffer from severe mental issues and want to rack up a high kill score.

[Hoyt]

28. And, you and the guns strapped to your body are going to stop that. HA. Leave em at home.

[spin]

40. Armed citizens have stopped massacres ...

and you damn well know it.

[Hoyt]

41. And "armed citizens" have caused them too. "Armed citizen" -- is that a joke?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

48. No it is not, since cops are citizens too

It is also the name of standing page in the NRA rag IIRC

[Hoyt]

57. Yea, and it's probably a term used on right wing Web sites too.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

66. Considering the racist and classist roots and impact of gun control you would think it would be on

left wing and progressive sites

[madrchsod]

12. i remember when that happened...

poor ronnie, he about shit his pants.

[RSillsbee]

15. Tell on

Were you there or did you see it on the news? What did you see ? What happened?

[iverglas]

19. jesus fucking christ

Will you people never give up with this bullshit revisionist history?

GO AND ASK SOME AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEMBERS OF THIS WEBSITE WHAT THEY THINK OF YOU.

This article was posted here already and this thread is a duplcate.

[virginia mountainman]

23. Problems??? nt

[gejohnston]

24. ummmmm no,

Reagan really did sign the Mulford Act, sponsored by a right winger after a bunch of black guys open carried to respond to racist and brutal California cops. Do you think the NAACP sponsored South Carolina's handgun ban in 1911? If so, why was it repealed around 1965?

Other than that, Jesus Fucking Christ says

[Glassunion]

29. GO AND ASK SOME AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEMBERS OF THIS WEBSITE WHAT THEY THINK OF YOU.

What in particular would you like to know?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

32. I can help out there too

[Glassunion]

34. .

:toast:

[virginia mountainman]

58. For some reason I can't get this image out of my mind...

Seems to fit many flippant remarks down here very well...



Around here, this sort of thing is happing more and more.... And, I find it highly amusing, when the ivory tower gets a "bit soiled" from the "overflowing assumptions" of the few who reside in them.

Even funnier when they don't realize it and keep going, or try to wiggle out.

[friendly_iconoclast]

37. That would be most appreciated. His interlocutor claims to speak for the GLBT community, as well. nt

[friendly_iconoclast]

36. Well played sir, well played! n/t

[iverglas]

44. "What in particular would you like to know?"

Exactly what I said.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

49. As an African-American, I agree with most of the posters here

[iverglas]

53. as the Queen of Roumania

I do too.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

55. I suggest you check my profile...it has not changed in quite some time

Barack Obama is half African, so am I. I would qualify as a visible minority in Canada, absurd a standard as it is.

Peddle your bilge water elsewhere

[Name removed]

56. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

33. Another sterling example of civil discourse

I say that as someone who is as much African- American as the current US president

[friendly_iconoclast]

39. Obviously, the racist misogynist right wing NRA has paid you off.

Lucky you- I'm just another white guy. We're a dime a dozen, and have to to pay them for membership.

(sarcasm mode switch to "Off")

[RSillsbee]

43. Charlize Theron is African too NT

[ProgressiveProfessor]

46. But she is not a visible minority...so presumptively that would not count in Canada

Remember who brought up the issue...

[RSillsbee]

64. I don't know, she (Theron) is pretty hot

I imagine that alone might make her a visible minority in Canada

[ProgressiveProfessor]

68. Bad Dog!

Though I will admit to laughing at the post.

[PavePusher]

74. Well, she'd be a minority in her native nation.

So, half-points awarded....

[SteveM]

81. Oh, I don't know, have a few beers and minorities become majorities. nt

[iverglas]

50. and you were intending to tell us what she thinks?

http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1106/29/pmt.01.html

MORGAN: ... Your father has a gun. As most people in South Africa did. And he actually starts shooting into a room where you are and your mother are. And your mother gets a gun and shoots him dead. I mean I can't imagine a more dramatic, appalling thing to happen to parents that I would love in the way that you did.

... How do you feel -- and this is a contentious one for you, but I would imagine you have strong views. What do you feel about the gun policy in America, given that you came from a country where they're everywhere.

THERON: I just don't think that we -- they're in -- by any means, anyone should ever have a semi-automatic or automatic weapon for anything. I'll start with that, you know. I think that. I obviously come from -- I've had an experience in my life where, in the wrong circumstances, a gun could be used in a -- in a -- in a very tragic way.

I also understand people's feelings about wanting to have their right to protect themselves. I always find it interesting that the right to bear arms actually has nothing to do with owning a gun.

But let me just say that for you to play with the term "African-American" as you chose to do ... well, try that one out among some African-American DUers too, why don't you?

[iverglas]

45. pffffft

I say that as someone who is not an idiot.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

47. snork

Your claim of mental capability is amusingly noted

[TPaine7]

61. You've heard from at least two on this forum, but apparently they're not twue enough

In fact, you've questioned whether I, at least, am actually black.

How is it, iverglas, that "No true Scotsman" is a logical fallacy but "No true African American" is not?

How is it that a Canadian woman is the arbiter of US blackness? How do you know more about what and how black Americans should think than I or another black person on this site do?

What would you think about a man who presumed to explain to you what and how "real" women think and to tell you what's in your best interest from a feminine perspective?

[TPaine7]

62. I didn't realize when I wrote this that there were two besides me on this very thread

This whole thing makes me wonder whether you're a fat bald Argentinan man or preoperative Russian transgendered man plannning a trip for that special surgery or something else besides a Canadian woman. People who think everyone else is lying...

[friendly_iconoclast]

71. You're just not *progressive* enough, so you suffer from false consciousness.

You obviously won't accept this, as your erroneous worldview prevents you from doing so....

Seriously, I've run into this with certain Marxist dickheads when I've done actions with ADAPT and/or the SEIU.
They need to be reminded on a regular basis that the 'proles' are perfectly capable of forming and acting upon their own
opinions- we weren't just hanging around waiting to get the imprimatur of some overaged postgrad who had studied Capital or Proudhon....

[iverglas]

73. where's Roy Innis when ya need him, eh?

And of course there's always Clarence Thomas ...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

76. Or Hedda Hopper

[ileus]

26. Another reason why everyone should take the opportunity to own a firearm.

[aikoaiko]

38. With few exceptions, when the NRA leadership gave into "reasonable" increased gun control. there...

...was "face palming" from the rank and file.

[Euromutt]

63. As I pointed out in an earlier thread about this article...

...it does deserve noting that the NRA's concept of the Uniform Firearms Act was something of a compromise. At the time, the existing model for state-level gun control was New York's Sullivan Act, and there was a threat that other states might adopt similar legislation. The Uniform Firearms Act was an attempt to head that off, and it did so primarily by sacrificing concealed carry--other than with a license granted at the government's discretion--in exchange for not requiring permits merely to own and keep firearms (particularly handguns) on one's own property (as New York's Sullivan Act did).

[SteveM]

82. The Sullivan Laws were birthed in a cesspool of anti-Italian sentiment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_Act#Controversy

I guess "Big Tim" Sullivan couldn't stand the competition.

[iverglas]

69. didn't I see yet another thread with this glurge in it today?

Here's the previous one I know of ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=118&topic_id=447729&mesg_id=447729

Anybody want to sign a pledge not to keep blithering away about the same crud in this forum every time somebody else runs across it on some gunhead website or other?

Like anybody here other than moi actually reads The Atlantic ...

[gejohnston]

70. Yeah I do once in awhile.

Not as much now as I did in high school, why?

[friendly_iconoclast]

72. "Like anybody here other than moi actually reads The Atlantic..."

The Atlantic is kind of dry, I'm more a Harper's fan myself.

I guess I'm just not educated enough to be amongst the vanguard of the proletariat...

[PavePusher]

75. Shhhh.... don't get in the way of the elitism.... it annoys the upper classes. n/t

[ProgressiveProfessor]

77. Reading the Atlantic is what passes for elitism these days?

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

[SteveM]

83. Hope so. Just shows more RW support for gun-control. Read! Enjoy!