Native Americans - gun laws same as for everyone else?

L

labgrade

Member In Memoriam
Had a lady ask me this question the other day & I didn't have a clue.

So, since the US Govmint has all these treaties & Native Americans are "sovreign nations," what are the gun control implications regarding their unique status?

Are they exempt or just as screwed as the rest of us?
 
The Indian Nations are just as screwed as the rest of us. Only difference is, they're kept so poor that they don't know the difference.
Yet.
 
If you'll recall the history....most tribes were disarmed and forbidden firearms when they were interned on the reservations.

I don't know this for fact, but I believe that the current authority over "inmates" that HUD claims in housing projects make be derived (precidence) from the BIA over the reservations

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
Here in the Phoenix metro area, guns are verbotten on Indian land. However, AZ is leasing land from the Pima Indians, and there is a mall nearby and route 101 runs on the land as well. There is a Wal-Mart there that sells rifles and ammo. So, it's confusing to say the least.
 
Indians are "kept so poor" by whom? The government? If they haven't figured out by now not to trust politicians, I doubt they ever will.

I once heard an acquaintance, who happened to be Indian, say that the reservation was death. He got off of it and went into the military. His parents still lived on the reservation, but he knew he had to get out of that place if he was going to do anything with his life.

If it's true that Indians can't own either handguns, or long guns, or both, it just goes to show you what you get when you trust the government and make treaties with it. Any collection of people (government) with that much power can't trusted, it can only be watched and (hopefully) controlled.
DAL

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Reading "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal," by Ayn Rand, should be required of every politician and in every high school.
 
Speaking of "the white man", the Lakota leader Red Cloud said,

"They made us promises, more than I can remember -- They never kept but one;
They promised to take our land, and they took it."


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Either you believe in the Second Amendment or you don't.
Stick it to 'em! RKBA!
 
Congress is a paternalistic "protector" of the Tribes. They aren't quite like little sub countries within the US. They are quite dependent upon the hand of government and pattern their own modern beauracratic structure after the washington model. Every tribal office building or enterprise I enter has the easily recognizable "no concealed weapons" symbol. I still have no problem myself with approved use of firearms on trust land. Tribal police forces vary depending upon who's the CO. Some can't get the boss to pay for CLEET certification ammo and others have preban AR's in the car. I suspect that full auto, if the right paper pusher showed up would be a snap. Anyway, Indians got guns. Hunting is still very ingrained in the culture. They also have long memories.
 
lawdog, Some tribes here near Phoenix have established casinos on the reservations, and those that have are rolling in money.
 
Of all sub-groups of Americans, I would expect Indians to be even more concerned about "benevolent government" that, say. Russian Jews. I would be willing to bet that reservations hold more surprises than we suspect.
 
I seem to remember there being a gunfight a few years ago in which Russell Means, et al participated. The battle of Wounded Knee. More at:
http://msnbc.com/onair/msnbc/TimeandAgain/archive/wknee/1973.asp

I also remember a skirmish between an Indian tribe and the Canadian government only a couple of years ago.

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Gun Control: The proposition that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own panty hose, is more acceptable than allowing that same woman to defend herself with a firearm.


[This message has been edited by jimpeel (edited January 03, 2000).]
 
I hope to God and pray to the Great Spirit that when the time comes, we will see many Crazy Horses thundering off the reservations. If I have one ounce of Crazy Horse's courage in my over 200-pound body, I will do well. A braver man never walked the earth. If a white man thinks that, imagine what the spirit of Crazy Horse does for the red man. Yes, there are surprises on the reservations.



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Hoka-hey
 
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