The Whiteness of America’s Gun Laws.


Armed members of the Black Panther Party leave the Capitol in Sacramento, California May 2, 1967.

Armed members of the Black Panther Party leave the Capitol in Sacramento, California May 2, 1967.

…We cannot know if police would have reacted differently to the two allegedly armed men if Sterling and Castile were white, but simple fact is that deaths like these keep happening. And they keep happening to black men.

The whiteness of America’s gun laws, and of how those laws operate in practice, is nothing new. Indeed, when black activists took advantage of loopholes allowing them to rather extravagantly exercise their own gun rights, those loopholes were rapidly closed by an icon of white conservatism — the sainted Ronald Reagan himself.

Enter The Black Panthers

[…]

Yet the dramatic events that led to the Mulford Act becoming law also reveal how quickly white conservative lawmakers were willing to act when the face of gun rights was black. And this response stands in stark contrast to modern day conservatives’ reaction to similar antics by white activists.

When Gun Rights Are White

GW

[…]

Rather, the point is that, as the face of gun rights grew whiter over the last several decades, white conservatives grew increasingly more sympathetic to efforts to elevate these rights. The position Ronald Reagan took on guns in the 1960s would make him a pariah in today’s Republican Party. Even the National Rifle Association (which, admittedly, was a far less political organization in the 1960s) supported legislation like the Mulford Act. Indeed, they actually helped shape similar laws in many other states.

You can get white conservatives to enact gun laws in the United States, but it’s hard to do if the face of gun rights isn’t black.

An excellent article, and a nifty recap of how swiftly gun restrictions were made into law when it was the Black Panthers holding the guns. I remember all that happening.

Comments

  1. rq says

    A truly excellent article.
    I doubt that, these days, attempting anything similar to what the Black Panthers did back in the day would end in the carrier being alive…

  2. says

    rq @ 1:

    No bet. I decided to add the other photo, because the difference is so damn stark. The Black Panters were attempting to not only make a point, they were trying to enact change, to get people to listen. I was 9 years old when that particular BP action took place. I didn’t have any trouble understanding what they were trying to do, and they didn’t scare me.

    The photo of the Chipotle open carry guys? They scare the hell out of me, because there’s this attitude of “hey, look at my toys, come and play!” about them, except their toys are deadly.

  3. blf says

    Nowadays, it is “open carryown a gun” only if you are whiteauthoritarian.

    Suggested fix.

  4. blf says

    Related, Bahamas urges travellers to US to be cautious around police:

    Island state warns travellers in response to recent shootings of young black men by US officers

    The government of the Bahamas has warned young men travelling to the US on holiday to “exercise extreme caution” when interacting with police, following the recent shootings of black men by police officers.

    The island nation of about 300,000 people […] issued the rare travel guidance this week. The ministry of foreign affairs said that many Bahamians would be travelling to destinations including the US this independence holiday weekend. [Bahama was declared independent on 10 July, 1973. –blf]

    “We wish to advise all Bahamians traveling to the US but especially to the affected cities to exercise appropriate caution generally. In particular young males are asked to exercise extreme caution in affected cities in their interactions with the police. Do not be confrontational and cooperate,” the statement read.

    “If there is any issue please allow consular offices for the Bahamas to deal with the issues. Do not get involved in political or other demonstrations under any circumstances and avoid crowds.”
    […]

  5. rq says

    They scare the hell out of me, because there’s this attitude of “hey, look at my toys, come and play!” about them, except their toys are deadly.

    Me, too.

  6. says

    I wish someone would resurrect the Panther patrols, except with cameras (and cameras watching the cameras watching the cops) -- all livestreaming every cop all the time. It would be trivial to tag cop cars with GPS trackers, too. They’d spend hours killing themselves to find them and cops would quickly learn they could not leave their cars without having to scrub down for tags.

    Cop watching via drone would be good, too, except that you’d have drones being regulated off the map immediately because: endangering cops. Of course nothing endangers cops like what the cops are doing, themselves.

  7. says

    Marcus:

    I wish someone would resurrect the Panther patrols, except with cameras (and cameras watching the cameras watching the cops) – all livestreaming every cop all the time.

    I think all colours of people could be involved in that one, and it would take a lot of people. All cops wouldn’t be under scrutiny, but enough of them would. They have shown no interest in scrutinizing themselves, or policing themselves, so it’s up to all of us to do it.

    Although, as you pointed out in your post of the video confiscation in Alton Sterling’s death, that doesn’t always help.

  8. says

    Caine@#2:
    The photo of the Chipotle open carry guys? They scare the hell out of me, because there’s this attitude of “hey, look at my toys, come and play!” about them, except their toys are deadly.

    It’s a toxic masculinity issue across the board. Cops swagger around with weaponry just as much as the chipotle guys.

    I’m less impressed with cops’ fire control than most civilian gun fetishists. One of the scariest things I saw was a year after 9/11 there was a Mass state trooper standing in Logan airport, near the check in desks for USAir (where the crowds are, it’s a USAir hub) with a suppressed H&K MP5 submachine gun. Clip in it, probably empty, but -- still. That’s warfighting gear designed for mass shootings, not some onanistic ego-fleshlight for a cop to strut with.

  9. says

    Caine@#10:
    as you pointed out in your post of the video confiscation in Alton Sterling’s death, that doesn’t always help.

    A video of a cop emerging from the convenience store with the video monitoring gear under his arm… oh, that’d be so fine to give a grand jury.

  10. says

    Marcus:

    A video of a cop emerging from the convenience store with the video monitoring gear under his arm… oh, that’d be so fine to give a grand jury.

    Yes, it would. It would be even better if we could all be sure the cops never had the opportunity to tamper with it, or scrub it. If anything, that fucking stunt should teach all merchants one lesson: in a similar situation, grab the fuckin’ tape / disc, and have a really good hiding place for it, then call your lawyer.

  11. says

    Caine@#13:
    in a similar situation, grab the fuckin’ tape / disc, and have a really good hiding place for it, then call your lawyer

    I don’t think federal whistleblower protections are anywhere near as good as they should be, but it ought to be the case that if someone drops video of a cop misbehaving they are immediately extended whistleblower protections including (potentially) police protection. Uh. I mean protection from the police.

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