NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: http://www.lp.org/
WASHINGTON, DC -- The NAACP is making a "racist mistake" by
filing a lawsuit against gun manufacturers -- and is following in the
shameful footsteps of the Ku Klux Klan, the Libertarian Party charged
today.
"With this lawsuit, the NAACP is not only attacking the civil
rights of African-Americans, but is also continuing the legacy of the
KKK and other racist organizations that have historically tried to keep
guns out of the hands of blacks," said Steve Dasbach, the party's
national director.
"Politics makes strange bedfellows -- and what could be
stranger than the NAACP climbing into bed with the grand wizards of the
KKK by supporting their racist agenda?"
This week, the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) announced at its national convention that it
will file a federal suit in New York on Friday against 85 gun
manufacturers for "dumping guns into black communities and turning them
into war zones."
The NAACP -- which argued that "the illegal trafficking of
firearms disproportionately affects minority communities" -- wants the
court to ban sales at gun shows and limit how many guns can be sold in
one transaction.
But the reality is, the gun control measures endorsed by the
NAACP will disproportionately affect minority communities, where people
are exposed to higher crime rates and slower police response times,
said Dasbach.
"The NAACP apparently wants to limit the ability of its members
to defend themselves and their families against violent crime," he
said. "That's shameful enough, but what's even worse is that this
lawsuit continues the disgraceful legacy of white racists who don't
think blacks can be trusted with guns."
In fact, anyone who studies history knows that gun control laws
have frequently targeted African-Americans, said Dasbach -- going all
the way back to the post-Civil War period, when Southern whites were
determined to keep guns away from emancipated slaves.
According to Don B. Kates, an author who studied post-Civil War
gun laws, a flurry of Southern states passed laws designed to ban or
tax inexpensive handguns so poor blacks couldn't afford them, including
Tennessee (1870), Arkansas (1881), and Alabama (1893).
That trend continued into the 20th Century. In 1902, South
Carolina banned the sale of handguns to everyone except "sheriffs and
their special deputies: i.e., company goons and the KKK." In 1911, New
York City passed the Sullivan Law, which allowed police to screen
handgun applicants -- so they could reject blacks, eastern Europeans,
and Jews.
And in 1968, Congress passed more gun control legislation,
partly in response to the urban riots that followed the assassination
of Dr. Martin Luther King.
"Given America's shameful legacy of attempting to deprive
African-Americans of basic civil rights -- by denying them the right to
exercise the Second Amendment -- it's baffling that the NAACP would
join this attack," said Dasbach. "This lawsuit is a betrayal of
everything a civil rights organization should represent."
Ironically, the NAACP itself has a history of using firearms to
defend African-Americans from racists, he noted.
In Monroe, North Carolina in 1957, for example, 60 armed blacks
from the local NAACP chapter were able to repel an attack from a KKK
motorcade after the Klansmen shot at the house of Dr. Albert E. Perry,
the NAACP vice president.
"It would be a shame if such despicable attacks against black
Americans became more common in the future -- because the NAACP had
disarmed its members," said Dasbach. "As that incident in Monroe
proved, the best way to protect minority communities is by giving them
the freedom to defend themselves."
The Libertarian Party http://www.lp.org/
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: http://www.lp.org/
WASHINGTON, DC -- The NAACP is making a "racist mistake" by
filing a lawsuit against gun manufacturers -- and is following in the
shameful footsteps of the Ku Klux Klan, the Libertarian Party charged
today.
"With this lawsuit, the NAACP is not only attacking the civil
rights of African-Americans, but is also continuing the legacy of the
KKK and other racist organizations that have historically tried to keep
guns out of the hands of blacks," said Steve Dasbach, the party's
national director.
"Politics makes strange bedfellows -- and what could be
stranger than the NAACP climbing into bed with the grand wizards of the
KKK by supporting their racist agenda?"
This week, the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) announced at its national convention that it
will file a federal suit in New York on Friday against 85 gun
manufacturers for "dumping guns into black communities and turning them
into war zones."
The NAACP -- which argued that "the illegal trafficking of
firearms disproportionately affects minority communities" -- wants the
court to ban sales at gun shows and limit how many guns can be sold in
one transaction.
But the reality is, the gun control measures endorsed by the
NAACP will disproportionately affect minority communities, where people
are exposed to higher crime rates and slower police response times,
said Dasbach.
"The NAACP apparently wants to limit the ability of its members
to defend themselves and their families against violent crime," he
said. "That's shameful enough, but what's even worse is that this
lawsuit continues the disgraceful legacy of white racists who don't
think blacks can be trusted with guns."
In fact, anyone who studies history knows that gun control laws
have frequently targeted African-Americans, said Dasbach -- going all
the way back to the post-Civil War period, when Southern whites were
determined to keep guns away from emancipated slaves.
According to Don B. Kates, an author who studied post-Civil War
gun laws, a flurry of Southern states passed laws designed to ban or
tax inexpensive handguns so poor blacks couldn't afford them, including
Tennessee (1870), Arkansas (1881), and Alabama (1893).
That trend continued into the 20th Century. In 1902, South
Carolina banned the sale of handguns to everyone except "sheriffs and
their special deputies: i.e., company goons and the KKK." In 1911, New
York City passed the Sullivan Law, which allowed police to screen
handgun applicants -- so they could reject blacks, eastern Europeans,
and Jews.
And in 1968, Congress passed more gun control legislation,
partly in response to the urban riots that followed the assassination
of Dr. Martin Luther King.
"Given America's shameful legacy of attempting to deprive
African-Americans of basic civil rights -- by denying them the right to
exercise the Second Amendment -- it's baffling that the NAACP would
join this attack," said Dasbach. "This lawsuit is a betrayal of
everything a civil rights organization should represent."
Ironically, the NAACP itself has a history of using firearms to
defend African-Americans from racists, he noted.
In Monroe, North Carolina in 1957, for example, 60 armed blacks
from the local NAACP chapter were able to repel an attack from a KKK
motorcade after the Klansmen shot at the house of Dr. Albert E. Perry,
the NAACP vice president.
"It would be a shame if such despicable attacks against black
Americans became more common in the future -- because the NAACP had
disarmed its members," said Dasbach. "As that incident in Monroe
proved, the best way to protect minority communities is by giving them
the freedom to defend themselves."
The Libertarian Party http://www.lp.org/