Author Carol Anderson on How Anti-Blackness Drives U.S. Gun Culture & Right-Wing Assault on Democrac

[GenXer47]

https://www.democracynow.org/2023/4/13/carol_anderson_guns_democracy_abortion

"...the Second Amendment emerged really fully out of a concern about Black people, out of a fear of Black people. And so, this is what the role of the militia was. And so, yes, we hear the thing about domestic tyranny. They really weren’t good at that. We heard this thing about being able to — the militia being able to fend off a foreign invasion. They really weren’t good at that. But what they were good at was putting down slave revolts. And so, when you’re having the debates about the Second Amendment, you’re having the battles over the ratification of the Constitution, the Second Amendment was the bribe to the South to not scuttle the Constitution of the United States, in order to have control of that militia to keep the enslaved in check.

And so, this stream that comes through is — what we’re consistently seeing is — and I think about Charlie Kirk, who said last week that, you know, unfortunately, there are going to be gun deaths, but that’s the price you have to pay in order to have the Second Amendment. And so, what it’s saying is, because of the inherent, fundamental fear of Black people in this nation, we are willing to be unsafe in our schools, in our churches, in our grocery stores, in our amusement parks, on our streets, in our parking lots. We are willing to be unsafe in order to be able to have the access to weaponry, where we can’t even think through it in terms of what is logical."

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2A exercisers ought to know what sort of gym they belong to!

[Walleye]

1. Why can't we put in another amendment repealing this one

We managed to get rid of the prohibition amendment pretty quickly when people wanted to drink.

[Miguelito Loveless]

2. It requires 2/3's of both houses

which we are not going to get, ever.

[Walleye]

3. Certainly not in my lifetime

[Miguelito Loveless]

4. Given gerrymandering and

anti-voter laws in the South, never.

[Gore1FL]

7. Gen Z gives me hope.

They will have lived through school shootings as children and then as parents.

[Miguelito Loveless]

9. "Help us, Gen Z. You are our only hope!"

[wnylib]

10. Or 3/4 of the states.

[Miguelito Loveless]

12. Even harder

[Farmer-Rick]

5. So, the GQP is willing to kill off

A bunch of innocent children and adults because they are afraid the enslaved will be free?

[GenXer47]

6. yes

Two things become crystal clear: 1) non-colonial Europe, who doesn't have this cult of human sacrifice, didn't have slaves. Not a coincidence. 2) the Gun God is terrified of Critical Race Theory for a very good reason.

[RobinA]

11. Who Is

"non-colonial Europe" who didn't have slaves? Slavery is as old as the hills.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

16. WTF

The Visigoths condemned Jews in Toledo, Spain to slavery, in 694--after the fall of Rome.

https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2015-11-09/ty-article/694-ce-visigoth-king-enslaves-the-jews/0000017f-efb2-d487-abff-fffebe7a0000

In 1086, according to the Domesday book in England, 10% of the population were slaves, and a booming industry in slave trading existed between Ireland and what is now England. Henry I ended the practice in 1102.

https://vauxhallhistory.org/slavery-in-the-brixton-hundred-1086/

As late as 1480, 10% of Lisbon's population consisted of slaves:

https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/africanpassageslowcountryadapt/introductionatlanticworld/slaverybeforetrade

In the 1490s, one Lisbon resident owned almost 1700 of them, both at home and spanning multiple countries:

https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/how-much-is-enough/2021/08/10/bridgerton-europe-slavery

In fact, Mediterranean Europe was a hotbed of slavery between the collapse of the Roman Empire and into the "colonial" era, right down to at least the 1850s. Somewhere in my college research archives, I have a pdf copy of a research paper about that very practice in Italy during the 18th and 19th centuries. I'd have to find it, but I know I have it somewhere.

I can find more substantiation that negates the claim about no post-Roman/pre-Colombian slavery in Europe, if you like. That's merely a few examples I was able to think of, off the top of my head.


You were saying...?

[sarisataka]

8. And gun control celebrates

The Mumford Act signed by Regan which was directly in response to African-Americans exercising their rights as whites were allowed...

It is often suggested black people open carry more so more gun control laws will be passed.

Does the end justify the means...?

[wnylib]

13. I strongly support the need for gun regulation and

the banning of assault weapons on the grounds of public safety and prior recognition by the courts that the second amendment does not mean no regulation of weapons.

I also know from American history and from genealogy research that militias were not created for the purpose of keeping enslaved people oppressed. It's a mistake to perpetuate that idea. In some regions they were used for oppressing enslaved people, or for capturing Native Americans to enslave and trade in the Caribbean for African enslaved people.

But the people who tracked down, brutalized, and returned escaped enslaved people were more likely posses or bounty hunters than militias. Local sheriffs and constables were complicit with those groups because it was the law that they were property. Terrible law, but they enforced it.

On the actual origins of the 2nd amendment, Wikipedia has a very lengthy, detailed article on it. Basically, the origin of the 2nd amendment was in English common law. , from England, having nothing to do with slavery.

I recommend the following parts of the Wikipedia article:

1) the second paragraph on the English common law origin, and the following paragraph on the early state constitutions.
2) under the section titled Pre-Constitutional Background, the part called Influence of English Militia Act of 1755
3) the section called State Constitution Precursors to the Second Amendment.
4) The section called Conflict and Compromise in Congress produce the Bill of Rights.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#:~:text=The%20Second%20Amendment%20(Amendment%20II,of%20the%20Bill%20of%20Rights.

[Mosby]

14. A significant number of minorities own guns

I think its a mistake to assume that the gun epidemic is due to white supremacy only.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/

[NotVeryImportant]

15. Carol Anderson is a natural treasure.

[Withywindle]

17. K & R