A major gun-rights group says the bid to impose restrictive laws on the purchase and ownership of firearms by the Obama administration and other politicians has racist roots.
“You won't see President [Barack] Obama or his gun-grabbing cohorts admitting it, but the simple fact is that disarmament in America has historically been racially motivated,” the Second Amendment Foundation says in a new campaign.
“The first gun control laws were enacted in the antebellum South forbidding blacks, whether free or slave, to possess arms, in order to maintain blacks in their servile status.
“After the Civil War, the South continued to pass restrictive firearms laws in order to deprive the newly freed blacks from exercising their rights of citizenship.”
The Foundation notes that Martin Luther King “was blocked by segregationists when he tried to get his concealed carry permit, because they knew equal strength to defend oneself leads to societal equality.
“Sadly, gun control advocates today are de facto fighting for that same inequality.”
The Bellevue, Wash.-based foundation — which says its mission is “promoting a better understanding about our Constitutional heritage to privately own and possess firearms” — has produced a video about its views that gun laws are racist.
It asks people to sign a petition to be sent to Obama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Congress.
“[Tell them] to end racist gun control laws and demand equal gun rights for every American,” the Foundation urges.
“It doesn't matter where you live, whether in the city, suburbs, or a rural area,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. “All law-abiding citizens should be able to defend themselves and their families.”
The campaign and video highlight what the foundation says is “the disproportionate impact of gun control laws on African-Americans, Latinos, and other minorities, and show how it leaves large groups unable to defend themselves, their families, or their businesses.”
The video shows citizens from different parts of the country commenting on their local gun laws.
“[It provides] a vivid contrast between people who live in regions with laws that enable citizens to exercise their rights, and those who reside in areas with restrictive gun laws which typically have larger minority populations, including Chicago, Washington D.C., and New York City,” the group said.
Larry Ward, President of Political Media and principle organizer of Gun Appreciation Day, helped produce the video.
“It is unconscionable that in 2013 we have folks harboring a precivil-rights era mentality that . . . seeks to keep guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens just for being in urban, higher percentage minority areas,” Ward said.
“As civil-rights leaders from Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr. recognized, disarming a population is the first step to oppression.
“I hope that people across this country will join us at EqualGunRights.com and demand an end to the discrimination that still plagues this country.”
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