#BlackGunOwnersMatter
Second Amendment activists love to point out the racist origins of gun control, but do we practice what we preach?
1- A law-abiding citizen was pulled over in a routine traffic stop; his tail light was out. The police officer approached the vehicle and the law abiding citizen (who had a license-to-carry) informed the policeman, in front of his girlfriend and her daughter, that he was carrying a firearm. Three seconds later, the policeman emptied his magazine into the car, killing the man.
2- Eleven months ago, a day after the shooting, the National Rifle Association called this incident “troubling” and committed itself to silence until “the facts are known.” After those facts were made public, it assured its members that it would have “more to say.”
3- A jury acquitted the police officer of all charges last week. In absence of a video of what that law abiding gun owner was doing inside the car, they chose to take the police officer’s word that his “life was in danger.” The law abiding gun owner was unable to offer testimony because he was dead.
4-Two days ago, the authorities released the dash cam video of the shooting. It shows, at a minimum, an undertrained, emotionally immature police officer using force where it wasn’t needed. The cynic in me wonders if that undertrained, emotionally immature police officer would have emptied his magazine into a white gun owner.
5- The NRA honored its initial commitment to silence rather than its promise that it would have “more to say.”
There is an unhealthy obeisance which Second Amendment organizations offer law enforcement. We love to say that the Second Amendment is the “last defense against tyranny,” but when a black man says it on national television, so-called Second Amendment organizations shy away from his statements because of a song he recorded a quarter-century ago.
Black Gun Owners Matter. All gun owners matter. The Second Amendment guarantees that every American citizen, regardless of race, color, creed, sexual orientation, or religion have the right to keep and bear arms. When an emotionally immature, undertrained police officer empties his magazine into a law abiding gun owner, then gets away with it, we should all be screaming as loud as possible…
…because Black Gun Owners Matter.