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February 18, 2005

Is Gun Control Racist?

If you believe everything that Michael Moore says in Bowling for Columbine and his books, then you would think that "pro-gun" people are white racists, and that "gun control" would be a wonderful way to help minorities. But a look at America's past reveals what historian Clayton Cramer has accurately called "The Racist Roots of Gun Control."

After the Civil War, the defeated Southern states aimed to preserve slavery in fact if not in law. The states enacted Black Codes which barred the black freedmen from exercising basic civil rights, including the right to bear arms. Mississippi's provision was typical: No freedman "shall keep or carry fire-arms of any kind, or any ammunition."

Author Dave Kopel then goes into further detail about how gun control in the postwar South was used to oppress blacks. It's not a pretty story; but, as Kopel concludes, "it does offer reasons to be especially cautious about the dangers of disarming people who cannot necessarily count on their local government to protect them," which, of course, includes all of us.

(Thanks to the LewRockwell.com blog for the link.)

Posted by Mike Tennant at February 18, 2005 10:45 AM

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