PA: Black People with Guns Matter

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Maj Toure is a 29 year old black activist in Philadelphia who wants black people  in urban centers to exercise their Second Amendment rights.  From philly.com:

Toure is a young African American man who grew up in North Philadelphia watching the destruction caused by gun violence, but who nonetheless was attracted to firearms, and became an official, dues-paying NRA member and legal gun owner.

"The stigma, especially in an urban environment like Philly, is if you have a gun, you're either law enforcement or the bad guy," Toure said when we talked recently. "What we're trying to do is say that just because you have a gun doesn't make you the bad guy. But while you have your firearm, which you have the right to have, you have to be a responsible, card-carrying good guy."

It is nice to see an idea that has been pushed by many Second Amendment activists take root in Philadelphia. Philadelpia officials have been adamantly opposed to citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights.

John Lott has found that urban minorities benefit the most from being legally armed. This seems obvious on reflection.  Those areas are where the highest crime rates are. From uchicago.edu:

Lott: I won’t speculate about motives, but the results tell a different story. High crime urban areas and neighborhoods with large minority populations have the greatest reductions in violent crime when citizens are legally allowed to carry concealed handguns.

A strong reason to encourage black people to be armed is to reinforce the idea that the Constitution applies to them as well as everyone else.  When a black person sees that they can be legally armed, it shows that the promises of the Constitution are being enforced.  Belief in the criminal justice system is essential for a low crime rate.

Black people were the first to be disarmed as the "Shall not be infringed" clause of the Second Amendment was eroded over time. Considerable history has to be overcome to change black attitudes about weapons permits.  The permit systems were used to disarm black people .  It is common to see opinions on the Internet that black people will not be able to get permits or legally defend themselves. 

Attitudes are changing rapidly. It seems that society has hit a tipping point.  From the article:

And Toure is hitting on something that is playing out nationally, which is the rise of gun ownership, and gun clubs, among African Americans, and the rise in urban areas of law-abiding citizens brazenly open-carrying. According to a December 2014 poll by the Pew Research Center, 54 percent of blacks said they believed guns were more likely to protect people than to put their safety at risk. That figure was up from 29 percent two years earlier.

The changing attitudes toward the Second Amendment may build support for Republicans in the coming election. Donald Trump has strong Second Amendment positions in his campaign. Hillary Clinton has made gun control and attacks on gun manufacturers a major plank in hers.  It is one of the strongests contrasts on the issue in the last 20 years.

President Obama went to considerable lengths to portray himself as a Second Amendment supporter, and waited until he had been elected to a second term before pushing hard for more gun control measures.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Link to Gun Watch