Nothing Common About Sense
By La Shawn Barber (01/17/03)
Everything bad that has ever happened to blacks in America is due to racism, liberals say. Since the Democrats‚ new hobby is seeking out racist proclivities in everyone's past--except their own--black liberals in Washington, D.C. may want to consider challenging one of their party's own traditionally racist policies: gun control. Blatantly unconstitutional, the District's gun laws do nothing to deter crime, and everything to keep the murder rate among the highest in the nation.
According to the U.S. Constitution, Americans have an individual right--not a collective one--to keep and to bear arms. That right is a personal one and subject only to reasonable regulation. The District's gun laws are an unreasonable and outright violation of the Second Amendment. Reminiscent of the days of human bondage in America, black, law-abiding citizens are once again denied their constitutional right to bear arms.
In 1976, the visionaries on the D.C. City Council passed a law prohibiting the sale of new guns. The laws also prohibit anyone from bringing a handgun into the District or transporting one through the city. This off-the-wall scheme was conjured up as a way to prevent criminals from getting guns. Since enactment of the law 27 years ago, the murder rate in the District has risen 134%, and the nation's capital has been the butt of every murder capital of the world joke from here to Outer Mongolia.
Government intrusion isn't new. For at least two centuries in America's history, blacks have been stripped of the freedom of movement, association and expression. Before the Civil War, they were prohibited from owning firearms for fear of slave rebellions, and because they were not citizens under the law.
After the abolition of slavery in 1863, whites continued to prohibit black ownership of firearms by charging excessively high taxes, effectively pricing them out of the market. Additionally, the Black Codes--laws set up after the Civil War in 1865 by Southern Democrats--continued to restrict the rights of newly freed slaves to own firearms, own or rent farmland, vote, sit on juries, testify against white men, sue, and enter into contracts. As de facto slavery, the Black Codes‚ purpose was to maintain the white hierarchy.
Some things never die.
What dies are the rights of people to protect themselves. A study by John Lott, a Yale University professor, found that allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes. Lott‚s study also found that when states pass concealed handgun laws, the percentage of black crime victims increases.
Numerous other studies show that blacks are victims of crime at a disproportionate rate, and that the perpetrators are disproportionately black. While the criminals in the District are violating their neighbors, potential victims would be outlaws if they tried to defend themselves. When people are allowed to defend themselves with guns, crime drops. To buy the liberal myth that guns cause crime is to be stripped of what might be the only chance of protection.
The D.C. City Council bought the myth back in 1976 by failing to comprehend that criminals are criminals; they commit crimes. Council members apparently thought that, although laws against murder didn't deter criminals from committing murder, laws against possessing guns might deter them from possessing guns. No gun law anywhere will ever prevent a thug from being a thug.
Criminals are resourceful cowards. They benefit the most from gun laws: fewer armed victims. The District's gangbangers know that law-abiding citizens--prime targets--probably won't be carrying guns. The balance of power shifted to the armed criminals.
That never should have happened.
At least two groups are attempting to re-shift the balance. Last year, the Federal Public Defender for the District of Columbia filed suit on behalf of two defendants charged with violating the laws. The office supported its argument by citing the Department of Justice's recent affirmation that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to bear arms. The Cato Institute, a public policy think tank, filed a lawsuit against the District on the grounds that all Americans have a right to defend themselves. With a strong leader in the White House, the time is ripe for common sense legislation in America.
To have to make a case for concealed weapons is an unpleasant task. In an ideal world, there would be no guns because there would be no crime. But this isn't an ideal world; it's Washington, D.C. More atrocious than the District's high murder rate is the government‚s palpable disregard for the right of individuals to be free from excessive government intrusion.
The gun laws in Washington, D.C. defy common sense. But I'm discovering there's nothing common about sense.
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