NRA was pro-gun control when it came to Black Panthers

[Fire Walk With Me]

Occupy The Hood ‏@OccupyTheHood

NRA was pro-gun control when it came to Black Panthers http://thegrio.com/2013/01/11/nra-was-pro-gun-control-when-it-came-to-black-panthers/ …


In the wake of the deadly Newtown Connecticut shooting in December, President Barack Obama appointed Vice President Joe Biden to convene a gun violence prevention task force. The National Rifle Association, or the NRA, expressed its disappointment with a meeting it held with Biden, who will release his recommendations on Tuesday.

“We were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment,” the NRA wrote in a statement. “While claiming that no policy proposals would be ‘prejudged,’ this Task Force spent most of its time on proposed restrictions on lawful firearms owners — honest, taxpaying, hardworking Americans.”

snip

But the organization had a change of heart in the 1970s when the Black Panthers advocated for an individual right to bear arms. Ironically, the Panthers were the founders of the modern-day gun rights movement, which became the purview of predominantly white, rural conservatives.

The ambiguous reading of the Second Amendment notwithstanding, gun control is as old as the Republic, and the amendment was not interpreted as an absolute in the early days of the United States. There was a balance between individual rights and public safety.

(The poor and people of color ARE oppressed by law enforcement. Just look at "stop and frisk" which thankfully is being reduced.)

[Scuba]

1. Yesterday 1StrongBlackMan proposed declaring Feb 1st "1 Million Black Man AR-15 Buy Day".

They'd be banned by end of January.

[KeepItReal]

5. to be followed by the Million Legally Armed Black Man March to the NRA HQ

Just to show our support of the 2nd amendment.

[frylock]

11. someone should make that a Facebook event

[phantom power]

2. This is what I thought of after that comment about slaves and guns...

These people live in fear of black people with guns. The idea of them appropriating slavery as a rhetorical tactic for arguing against gun control is laughable.

[upaloopa]

3. Nothing scares the bejesus out of some folks

like a Black man with a gun.

[KeepItReal]

6. NRA's LaPierre depicts THE ENTIRE USA as "Boyz in tha Hood"

Last edited Fri Jan 11, 2013, 05:35 PM - Edit history (1)

As if we all forget that was a movie set in South Central Los Angeles in 1991.

Listening to LaPierre, you'd think there are marauding bands of gun-toting gangs cruising gated communities, rural hamlets, Times Square, the beach, cornfields, the outlet mall, and maybe even golf courses - so you'd better be armed.

[samsingh]

4. the nra is finished

[progressoid]

7. I wish.

Their membership supposedly jumped by an additional 100K after Newtown.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/10/nra-membership_n_2449236.html

[Scuba]

8. That's a pimple on their ass. Meanwhile their poll numbers dropped 15-20% nationally....

... unfavorables like never before. The days of NRA power are over.

[samsingh]

9. that's a small blip compared to the whole public

and on such an emotional issue 100k members across the country isn't that much.

as a political force and a respected lobby, they are finished

[Fire Walk With Me]

12. And after saying the "mentally ill" must be forced into lists and restrictions,

they alienated a full 25% of the country in a single comment. One in four are estimated to suffer some type and degree of such illness. By the NRA's beliefs, the entire country would be shot to pieces by now :/

That does appear to reveal something; they're fear-based, afraid of the unknown or possibly dangerous and must protect themselves.

[samsingh]

13. true to NRa hypocrasy

they are fine with having all mentally ill registered and in a database for the world to see. Their privacy doesn't matter. but guns - hey - they offer no compromise.

we have definitely entered weird territory. Technically the 2nd amendment says nothing about differentiating between the mentally ill and others in terms of gun rights 'shall not be infringed'.

In fact, i've heard that visitors are not allowed to keep their guns in the nra building. that's a violation of the 2nd amendment.

[frylock]

10. how many of the new memberships were purchased by existing members..

just to stick it to libruls? how many were purchased by employees of the arms manufacturers that rely on the NRA as their marketing and PR department? I just can't imagine that there's a whole lot of rationally thinking people whose first reaction to an event like Sandy Hook was "fuck yeh I'm joining the NRA."