The Racism Behind Modern Gun Control

I recently saw a video clip in which a gun control advocate gave UCLA Law Professor Adam Winkler a great deal of flak because he documented the racist roots of gun control in his book “Gun Fight”. Gun control advocates are upset because Winkler wrote about the link between racism and past gun control – yet there is absolutely no question that modern day gun control is racist to the core.

All one has to do to rip the façade off of modern gun control laws and expose the racism is ask one question: Who is affected the most by current gun control laws?

Let’s look at two prominent examples:

1) New York City – Until very recently, when they were lowered as a result of the Heller and McDonald Supreme Court decisions, the yearly fee to register one handgun $340.00 per year. For long guns, the fee is $55.00 per year. Unlike many other cities and states where the fee is only due when the firearm is transferred, in New York City you must pay the fee every year. It amounts to a tax designed to make it impossible for the poor to own firearms – and who are the poor in New York City? Mostly minorities. Who are the well off who can afford to pay? Mostly white people.

2) California – Here racism assumes the cover of “safety”. In order to be sold in the state, each model of handgun must conform to the state’s idea of what a safe handgun is. Every model must be submitted for testing (commonly called a “drop test”) and must have state mandated features such as manually operated safeties and “magazine disconnects” that many self defense experts consider dangerous. For this reason California police are exempt from the law. That’s right, California allows police to use guns that the state considers “unsafe”. In addition, manufacturers must renew each model every two years by paying a fee to the state. If they fail to do so, the model instantly becomes “unsafe” and cannot be sold in gun shops.

The result of this law is a virtual prohibition on gun shops selling used guns. How is this racist? Simple, it makes obtaining a quality handgun mire more expensive. What would be the effect if the sale of used cars were banned? After all, older cars are “less safe”. The only problem would be that the poor, who are overwhelmingly from minority groups, would find it much, much harder to buy cars. The only problem with this illustration is that while a well made and maintained car may last 10-20 years, a well made and maintained firearm may last 100-200 years.

In recent years consumers have begun to favor semi-automatic pistols over revolvers. As a result, there is a surplus of used, high quality revolvers. If it were not for California’s “safety” laws, these could be purchased by people of modest means. A .38 revolver in good condition is a very safe firearm, but since the model is no longer made, it is never submitted for testing and cannot be sold in retail channels. This forces most buyers into the new gun marketplace – where a quality gun costs at least $500.00 out the door.

Who is impacted by this law? Simple: The poor, who are mostly minorities.

Sadly, California is not the only jurisdiction that does this – in fact some states and cities simply use the California list.

Ironically, this is exactly the same tactic used by the Southern states after the Civil War. They passed laws that mandated that the only handguns permitted were “Army Revolvers” – which were, of course, very expensive. These laws allowed Southern Sheriffs to seize most handguns owner by newly freed slaves.

Another evidence of the racism behind gun control is where the most oppressive laws are in effect. Poor whites tend to live in more rural areas, where they experience many of the same problems found in the city – yet the law in these areas usually allows them to own almost any gun they can afford. Most poor minorities live in cities, where the most restrictive laws are in effect.

Fear of guns is not the only fear that motivates gun control advocates. The real fear is the combination of Black and Hispanic people with guns.

Six Undeniable Facts Related To The Fast and Furious Gunwalker Scandal

1) Within weeks of taking office, in an effort to pass new gun laws, the Obama administration lied about the number of guns coming from US retail outlets and recovered at Mexican crime scenes. Their figure was 90%. This lie was exposed almost immediately.

2) According to diplomatic cables released by Wiki-leaks, at the same time Hillary Clinton was promoting the 90% lie, the US Ambassador in Mexico sent several cables reporting that the vast majority of guns were coming from the Central American Black Market.

3) At almost the same time as (1) and (2), operation Fast and Furious was begun. This operation – in contrast to those botched under the Bush administration – was designed to do one thing, and one thing only: Pump guns sourced from US retail outlets to the Mexican narco-cartels. The guns were intentionally not tracked, intentionally allowed (and sometimes facilitated) across the boarder and the Mexican government – who would have had to have made any arrests – was intentionally kept in the dark. No one has ever been able to explain how the operation could have served any law enforcement purpose.

4) The ATF rewarded cooperating gun dealers by naming them as “primary sources of crime guns”.

5) The operation involved not only ATF, but DEA and FBI. DOJ clearly coordinated the effort, and knowledge of the operation not only went high within ATF – it also went to the top levels of DOJ. The man in charge of the day to day running of the operation (William Newell) communicated details of the operation to a White House aide in multiple emails over a period of months. He also made multiple phone calls to the same aide. Newell has stated that he only called and emailed the aide because they were “old friends”. Newell also insisted that in Fast and Furious no guns walked – calling his credibility into question.

6) The only reason we know anything about this is that brave agents blew the whistle. Had they said nothing, at best it would have been the word of “evil gun dealers” against the administration. At worst the dealers would have been blamed for Agent Terry’s death and the administration would have had justification for a new round of gun control laws.

As this is written, the scandal is gaining more and more traction in the press and in Congress. A new round of Congressional hearings is on the way. This is not going away anytime soon.

Another interesting development has been the slow realization by the media that AG Holder will not survive this. A month ago, no one outside the “gun rights media” believed Holder would be forced out. Last night BOTH legal commentators on O’Reilly agreed that he is done. Either because he knew and did not stop it, or he did not know and he should have. It happened on his watch.

The other fact that is slowly dawning on some reporters outside the gun rights press is that the ONLY motive for all of this that makes any sense is gun control. It’s taking a long time for them to get there, but the complete absence of any other sensible motive for the six facts above is pushing them in that direction.

Ask For An Open Investigation of "Fast and Furious" - Sign the Petition At Whitehouse.gov

As you may be aware, a major scandal has come to light at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, commonly known as the BATFE, or ATF. The US media has only begun to cover this story in a major way in the last few months - I have been tracking it since late February. No matter how you feel about guns or gun control, this is an important issue that could affect us all.

Basically, managers at ATF conducted a program that intentionally pumped guns into Mexico, WITHOUT TELLING THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT. They ORDERED federally licensed gun stores to sell guns to people who were obviously "straw purchasers" - people they would have normally refused to sell to.- people the knew were working for the cartels. A complete time line, with lots of links, can be found HERE.

The English speaking press here in the US has provided little coverage the reaction in Mexico. The Mexican people and government are LIVID over this. They are even more angered by the cover up. Many Mexican congressmen have called this an act of war. Last spring, Mexico expelled our ambassador. The Mexican government wants to prosecute those responsible IN MEXICO. The lack of a full an open investigation in the US is causing leaders in Mexico to come to dangerous conclusions. Last week the Mexican Attorney General stated publicly that she believes President Obama was behind it all.

What would we do if Mexico armed criminals in our country? Would we do nothing? If we do not investigate this matter there is a very real danger that the Mexican government may decide the they need to do something. What if they make peace with the cartels? What if they decide to align themselves with Venezuela and Iran? If we continue to treat the Mexican people and nation with contempt, we will have trouble.

The House investigation has been stonewalled, lied to and obstructed at every turn. For example, in response to a subpoena of documents the administration first ignored it and then responded by send documents of 95% of which were blacked out. In other cases, witnesses simply lied. We know they lied because the whistle blowers have supplied hundreds of documents.

Both the House and the Senate need to investigate this, without interference by members of the President's administration. Since the Senate committee is controlled by Democrats and the House committee is controlled by Republicans a full and fair investigation is possible - if the president will cooperate.

I am asking you to help by signing a petition on the White House website. The text of the petition and the link to the site where you can sign it can be found below. There is a simple registration process, after which you will be able to sign this or other petitions.

The Bill of Rights establishes our right to petition our government - let's use it!

The Petition at the White House Website can be found HERE.