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famousone
· 4 years ago
· FIRST
The NRA actually started off trying to arm and train freed slaves, Union Veterans, and the next generations in case the Democratic South ever did try to "Rise Again".
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guest_
· 4 years ago
Yeah. People forget the NRA has done a lot of good. Marksmanship and sport shooting programs were once a way to learn discipline and useful skills and stay out of trouble. Charities and so forth. I won’t argue if it is true or not but many (even members) feel the NRA has changed direction and don’t like the modern iterations as much- but the core principals and concepts of the NRA and its history are full of merit.
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famousone
· 4 years ago
There was a rough few decades in the 20th century where the NRA lost their spines and principals, going so far as to back bans and watch as minorities were deliberately targeted. But we're on the uptick now.
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guest_
· 4 years ago
I’m hoping. At its heart the NRA- and for sure most of its members- have freedom and responsible ownership of firearms at heart. The NRA isn’t an organization for “gun nuts” but is an organization that exists to remind people of why their rights to bear arms are important, protect them, and to help show people how to enjoy them responsibly and safeguard them. It’s an important organization.
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famousone
· 4 years ago
Yeah. The more people target the NRA or demand that they fold to yet more unreasonable demands, the more attractive more crazy less reasonable groups like the GOA (who I actually like) look.
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guest_
· 4 years ago
That’s the truth and I wish more people could see it. It’s a pendulum. If people push too hard one way or another- it’ll swing back just as hard to try and reach closer to centered.
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charror
· 4 years ago
Google pix of Black Panthers driving around in the sixties armed to the teeth. Perfectly legal at the time.
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guest_
· 4 years ago
Although it did cause quite a stir and led to- amongst other things- the US government to infiltrate the Black Panthers and even increase their radicalization specifically to gather information and create public backlash. Google- “COINTELPRO” of the FBI raids against Fred Hampton or the work of the people’s law office and the recognized illegal activities and cover ups of the FBI and other government agencies in their efforts to shit down or discredit the BPP. So it was legal- but that doesn’t mean the government was ok with it.
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guest_
· 4 years ago
I get what they are TRYING to say- but statistics on gun ownership show that “black” households with guns trail “white” homes by a narrow margin- and “Hispanic/Latino” homes trail behind “whites” by about half. The second person however is just as baffling. The original post doesn’t say people of color aren’t allowed to have guns- it implies that people of color don’t own guns in numbers great enough to cause concern. Although- with gun crime classically being associated with “gang crime” and “gang crime” being largely synonymous with “crimes by people of color” in the public mind- the whole thing is just a mess.
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famousone
· 4 years ago
The common man being armed is the opposite of a concern. The minority, even better. Anybody who fears that merely exposes their own dark intentions.
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guest_
· 4 years ago
I think that was their point. Or the point they were trying to make.
legallyspeaking
· 4 years ago
Black Panthers were literally murdered in droves because of this. God I wish more people used Google.
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zombie_slayr
· 4 years ago
Isn't that what happened with the Black Panther part for self defence? I heard that a lot of modern gun laws were made to depower them
guest_
· 4 years ago
The height of the BPP coincided with the social unrest of the 1960’s. The march on Washington, freedom riders, integration of schools, and the rights of blacks to vote were all recent things. The powers that be were losing control over minorities who were increasingly disobeying the unjust or selectively applied laws at the time. Freedom riders and others were showing that support for civil rights was growing- and the “hippies” in general sympathized with progressive social issues and causes.
guest_
· 4 years ago
MLK and Malcolm X had been assassinated- cutting off much of the “head” to the civil rights movement. The BPP emerged in Oakland California in the late 60’s shortly after (or starting before... depending on who’s timelines you use) the Killing of MLK. It was primarily in response to the use of extreme force by police officers against the black community and abuses and neglect against blacks by the police.
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guest_
· 4 years ago
While it was a political organization- it’s primary immediate goal was essentially to have black communities police themselves- often violence and crime in these communities was largely ignored by police except when it spilled over to white areas or was enforced on a whim- but agree or disagree the black community felt- and statistics of the time seem to support- things like finding perpetrators of “black on black crime” even murder and rape- weren’t given many resources.
guest_
· 4 years ago
So as a combination of “community watch” and in a role of watching over the police- who would be deterred from abusing armed groups of black citizens or in knowing that harassment or abuse of one black citizen could have consequences- the BPP often was armed.
guest_
· 4 years ago
Overall- they worried those in power. They were losing control over US soil. So yes, not only were various legal and illegal means used for surveillance and disruption of lawful activities by the BPP- but local, state, and even federal powers enacted laws- as well as scared voters who didn’t like the idea of a bunch of organized and angry people being armed- to undermine the power and ability of the BPP.
guest_
· 4 years ago
Their leader was killed, murdered- by police who were enacting a “search” that they knew (and was proven in subsequent government reviews) to be fabricated as pretense for a forced confrontation. Officers fired hundreds of shots into a room with a handful of men- who in total returned a single shot- AFTER they’d been opened fire on. The incident was covered up and it was painted that the BPP had started the “shoot out” with police on a lawful action. The cover up and intent to mislead was also ruled fact by the Supreme Court.
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Edited 4 years ago
guest_
· 4 years ago
None of this is conspiracy theory. The closest we get to that is when we discuss the funneling of illegal narcotics by the CIA into inner cities specifically to cause poverty and crime and disrupt the ability of minority communities to function and succeed- and when we discuss the operatives the CIA, FBI, and others planted in the BPP (which is a PROVEN fact- the only conspiracy part is to what degree these operatives acted on their own or what exactly was part of their missions)
guest_
· 4 years ago
But much of what came later and discredited the BPP suspiciously surrounds many of these confirmed operatives. Extreme militarization and radicalization, shifts of members or cells into criminal and gang activity, etc.
guest_
· 4 years ago
Tl:dr- yes. Many anti gun laws came about or were strongly influenced by fear of or intent to control the BPP- as well as many other actions at high levels and low within the government and police/law enforcement communities which themselves were often acting illegally even under the overall leeway that lee civil rights act law allowed.
