Gun Control and Civil Rights, Really?

I made a conscious decision not to write about gun control and the lunacy that has been playing out in the media.  It seem quite obvious to me that there is a need to revisit and revamp the existing laws.  I didn't feel that there was anything new that I could contribute that hasn't been said already.

That was until the race card was played to rally support against gun control.

First Larry Ward, chairman of the national Gun Appreciation Day  told CNN Friday that there never would have been slaves in America if black people had guns.

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"I think Martin Luther King, Jr. would agree with me if he were alive today that if African Americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of the country's founding, perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter in our history," 

Then Rush Limbaugh during his Friday’s radio show questioned how civil rights leaders would have had to march for rights if they had greater access to firearms at the time.

“If a lot of African-Americans back in the ’60s had guns and the legal right to use them for self-defense, you think they would have needed Selma? I don’t know, I’m just asking.”

“If John Lewis, who says he was beat upside the head, if John Lewis had had a gun, would he have been beat upside the head on the bridge?” 

I'm not writing this to revisit history or provide commentary on events that happened close to 50 years ago and neither should this new wave of gun advocates.  My point is quite simple, there is no way that African Americans would have been allowed to arm themselves to fight for their civil rights and when they did try they were marked as militant radicals.

This picture has been floating around  the facebook world. The Mulford Act was a 1967 California bill prohibiting the public carrying of loaded firearms. Named after Republican assemblyman Don Mulford, the bill garnered national attention after the Black Panthers marched on the California Capitol to protest the bill.  The bill was signed by California Governor Ronald Reagan and became California penal code.

"It began shortly after the shooting of Denzil Dowell. Easy Bay legislator Don Mulford introduced a bill to repeal the law that permitted citizens to carry loaded weapons in public places so long as the weapons were openly displayed. What the Mulford law sought to achieve was the elimination of the Black Panther Police Patrols, and it had been tagged "the Panther Bill" by the media."

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The Republican Party Platform of 1972 dated August 21, 1972 position on gun control was much different than it is today.  An excerpt in the "Improving the Quality of Life" section of the platform states:

......Intensify efforts to prevent criminal access to all weapons, including special emphasis on cheap, readily-obtainable handguns, retaining primary responsibility at the State level, with such Federal law as necessary to enable the States to meet their responsibilities.

Safeguard the right of responsible citizens to collect, own and use firearms for legitimate purposes, including hunting, target shooting and self-defense. We will strongly support efforts of all law enforcement agencies to apprehend and prosecute to the limit of the law all those who use firearms in the commission of crimes......

There comes a point in time that one just has to ignore ignorance.  We can choose to allow ourselves to get caught up in this nonsense (which is what the media wants us to do) or we can expose the stupidity and move on.  I choose the latter.

It starts now, let's get this thing done!